The Madness of Ms. Katherine

So long, farewell

2010-09-11T14:51:00.000-07:00

Well, this will be my last post on "The Madness of Ms. Katherine". With the new job, I didn't want anyone to be able to see things I had posted on here before. It's time to be a little more professional online. So I'm closing this out.

BUT this is not a farewell from blogging! I've started a different blog - www.katherineheugatter.blogspot.com. I'm calling it Motown Musings. You can read all about my adventures, as well as Robin's (my new puppy!) in Detroit/Grosse Pointe, MI there! That way, I can watch what I say...

Hope you all transition with me!! Thanks for reading!

The long promised and much anticipated update

2010-08-29T21:04:00.000-07:00

Ok ok. So those of you who still read this blog are probably wondering what is going on in my life since my euphoric "I got a job!!!" post. Here's the deal.

Yes I do have a job. I am the Program Coordinator at the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House, just outside of Detroit, MI. Technically, it's in Grosse Pointe Shores, part of Grosse Pointe, a suburb of Detroit. It is absolutely beautiful and I can't wait to get up there and start working with the education programs! This is an amazing opportunity. I have been truly blessed.

Secondly, I found my apartment in Grosse Pointe on Tuesday. It's in Grosse Pointe Park, bout 15-20 minutes from the museum. It's a SUPER CUTE little first floor apartment in a two family hosue built somewhere between the 20s and 40s (I think it's the 20s cause it's very craftsman style, but the ad on Craigslist says 1940s...). It's a 2 bedroom, so I will have an office/guest room, complete with a futon. White leather futon. Oh yeah baby. It's awesome. I also got a new couch and chair - I love the brown couch I have now, very comfy, but VERY VERY heavy and bulky... not fun to move... so I am leaving that to my roomie in STL and instead bought a blue leather couch anc chair at Weekend's only. Very very cute, very 1950s "I love Lucy" ish. I love them, perfect for me!

Thirdly, I got a puppy!!!!! Some of you may be wondering why I would get a puppy when I talk about Captain/Mr. Bixby so much on here. Here's the deal. I love Bixby with all my heart. No matter what, he will probably always be my favorite dog and definitely have a special place in my heart. But Bixby is almost 9 years old. He's had some health troubles (had to have 6 teeth removed this summer). He also is very much a family dog and really belongs in this house in STL. I can't take him away from that. And, since I am living by myself, I wanted someone to come home too. Thus, I got Robin. Robin is my new 11 week (ok 12 week as of tomorrow) half dachshund, half black-lab mix. Yes, you read that right - she is a dachsador (a new designer breed... although she was not designed, she was an accident on a farm...). She will probably get to be about 30-35 lbs, perfect size for an apartment dog. Super smart (she's already learned to sit on command and we're working on "Stay", "Come", and potty training - thus far very few accidents!), very very sweet, very laid back and calm though she can be active too. Perfect dog for me and Detroit. For those wondering, I named her Robin because my apartment is on Nottingham. So she's Robin of the Hood :-)

Finally, for those wondering, Daddy and I are driving up to Detroit on September 4. Yes, this Saturday. So if you're in STL and have not seen me yet, contact me ASAP to hang out. But be warned, you may see a very stressed out Katherine. I have a WHOLE heck of a lot of packing to do. I'm a little worried I'll be going to work with bald spots from pulling my hair out...

So that's the update. By the way, there is a chance I will be shutting this blog down and starting a new one. Since I got the job, I really want to keep everything about work off of the internet and keep things fun and professional at the same time. Not sure I quite did that here as well as I should have. BUT I will absolutely post the link to the new blog whenever it is up.

So for all those STL friends that read this - thank you! I love you and I am going to miss you all so much!!!!

THE DREAM LIVES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-08-13T13:18:00.000-07:00

I JUST GOT A JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am OFFICIALLY the Program Coordinator at the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH. MY. GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Cause I'm leaving on a... um... highway...

2010-08-11T12:19:00.000-07:00

OK so leaving on a jet plane doesn't quite work as well as I'd hoped. But you get the point. Yes, I am leaving Natchez. I am coming home. At least for a few weeks. Anyone who reads this blog (test test, is this thing on?) may be going "Wait, I'm so confused!" Ok, here's the deal.

So I am still Stretch Armstrong. Stretch wants to lean towards one side. But we'll see if that one side releases Stretch or not.

Last Thursday and Friday, I went to Detroit for a face to face interview with the museum up there. We'll call it "Car". I absolutely loved it. This is basically my dream job. And yes, I know it's Detroit. Yes, I know what Detroit means. But technically, "Car" is in Grosse Pointe, a SUBURB of Detroit where the public schools are in the top 2% of the nation - make more sense?. Before you all start saying, "Wait, what is Katherine doing in a SUBURB?" it's not your typical suburb. It's more like a small town. Besides, living in the city of Detroit is VERY VERY VERY different from living in the city of St. Louis. Especially for a single white female who weighs 100 lbs. So yes, if I got the job in Detroit, I would live in a suburb. Either Grosse Pointe or another suburb where, apparently, more of the young people live. We'll see. I feel pretty good about that job. I did my absolute best in all my face to face interviews. Plus, I talked to the president on the phone, and she flat out said it sounded like we're on the same page. However, I also know that I am not the only candidate. Yes, I beat out 96-98 other people for a face to face interview. But there's still that 1-3 others that could be a better fit. But I was the first one they flew in and I think I set the bar pretty high. I really want this job to work out but I've got to stay realistic.

Then there's the other side. We'll call it "Garden". This is the job in Natchez. I had my work session with the committee and they took it to the board. The president said it looked hopeful, but didn't have much more info than I had before I went to Detroit. We'll see on that. They're thinking of calling me "Museum Consultant" and having me come on "temporarily" so the board can get used to me, with the unwritten understanding among a few of us that, unless it's just a horrible fit, after the project I was working on was done, they'd present me to the board and hire me on permanently, that way the board doesn't get scared about hiring on a full time curator. This would be a great opportunity. The pay would be less than "Car" and there are no benefits, which "Car" is offering. But they could throw in a fully furnished apartment on the 3rd floor of one of the "garden" houses which would be AWESOME. So that's another option.

So why am I coming home? Well, I don't have an answer on either of these. BUT I should know on both, definitely "Car" cause they want someone to start by the 2nd wk of September and I'd have to find a place to live, by the end of August. Since that's only 2 weeks away, I decided just to come home and wait it out. I felt like it would be cheating Melrose for me to sign up for classes, start the STEP program, then a wk to 2 wks later, "Hey I got a job, I'm out". Plus, I've worked 7 days a week all summer. Plus a few weeknights. I am EXHAUSTED. The idea of having to start classes and another job immediately, without a break, time to relax with family, time to see Bixby, or time to see friends in STL just makes me want to cry. I need some downtime. So I'm taking some.

I know that there is a very good chance that either "Car" or "Garden" will work out. If both work out, I would take "Car". More money, benefits, and the dream job, I'd be an idiot to turn it down. But if "Garden" worked out and "Car" did not, I would be thrilled. But I have to keep in mind that both of these could still go south. Should that happen, when I get home, I'm going to look into some online classes/distance learning at UMSL and Forest Park/SLCC as well as at Co-Lin. That way, I can talk to Melrose about maybe coming back as a STEP student. If they can't do it, maybe a park in STL could hire a STEP student on. I'll take it from there. But right now, I need some relaxation time with Bixby!

So if you're in STL and reading this, get excited, I'm coming home!!!

Stretch armstrong

2010-07-27T17:32:00.000-07:00

So I have become stretch armstong. But this is the best stretch armstrong situation EVER!

So Thurs I had my phone interview with Detroit. It went great! I felt wonderful after that! Friday, I drove up to Kilgore, TX to see my sister and Luke. I stopped in Naychadoches, La to see Steel Magnolias locations and was having lunch when the book club lady called saying the org here wanted to meet me and see if we could reach an agreement to take to the board! So I went there yesterday, they're recommending me to the board tomorrow as "museum consultant". Then today, detroit called for a ref check, and Jay (my prof) tipped off the fact that I'm bout to get an offer. So bout 2 hrs after he did that, u get a call saying Detroit wants me to come up for a face to facer interview! So I've got two possibilities. Both have major pros. But both have even
bigger cons. And both could still go south. We'll see!

Now or never

2010-07-20T11:32:00.000-07:00

I'm posting from my blackberry so if things don't always make sense or there's mistakes that's why. Time to post my plan.

First off, my good news. I have a phone interview Thursday! Its with a job in MI that I applied to before I left for Natchez, same one I had the preinterview with! Plus its with the guy who graduated from UMSL and worked at the museum I was at for 5 years!

Second, more good news. The org here with the job I found out about at book club is definitely interested! At least, the President of the org is in my corner. I dunno bout the committee or the rest of the board. But signs are good there! Nothings set in stone, it could easily get ripped out from under me like Galveston. But signs are good!

Now for my plan. I have these two amazing leads. But, nothing is even close to set in sstone. Rosalie has said I could stay and finish the inventory project. I could also keep hostessing there. Plus today I was told that, while Melrose can't give me an absolute guarantee, they definitely need to fill the STEP pos they now have open, so if I want to figure out registering for classes somewhere, go ahead and do that and plan, for now, to work at Melrose. That could suddenly change but the chief of interp doesn't think it will, though he couldn't make any promises. They also know that I will be looking for a full time job while a STEP student and if one came up, I would leave - as the chief said, he wouldn't hire someone without initiative.

So one option is, once this internship is over, I could stay in natchez, finish rosalie, and be a STEP student till I know for sure bout full time jobs, or till December. My other option is to go back to STL, work retail, and volunteer at the same museums I've been at for years. I know that if I take option 2, I will kick myself constantly. I will also be miserable bvecause I missed an opportunity, thus making my roomie, my friends, and ESPECIALLY my family miserable too. I don't want to do that. And I need to get my foot in the door - if these full time jobs don't work out, at lease the natchez option would let me get my pinkie toe in the door.

So I am currently planning to stay in Natchez. I'm not making formal plans (ie registering for classes, finding an apt) until I have my interview Thurs and get a vetter timeline on the MI job. If they'll hire by september and I get an in person interview, I may not stay. But I kinda doubt that, I bet that propcess will go till bout October 1. I will be looking for a furnished apt here for 2-4 mos (if the full time job here works out, ill rent an apt and move down here, but I'm not moving all my stuff and sure not signing a lease for just thro Dec). If these FT jobs don't work, I will reevaluate in Dec, when my lease in STL is up. But that's the plan for now!

Don't worry, I won't be gone from you forever! Ill come back to STL to visit - if nothing else, I have to come back in Aug to get some more stuff! And thanks to the wonders of modern tech, you can still keep in touch with me - and I do expect you to!

I love everyone in STL. You're all absolutely amazing. But I can't turn down this opportunity, just to come home and wait for my shot. I need to take a chance and see where God is leading me, starting with a temp stay in natchez.

ill keep you updated as things develop!

Thanks for everything! I love you all!

Love and still missing you,
Katherine

Nobody panic. I have a plan.

2010-07-09T15:46:00.001-07:00

I think that's a movie quote... maybe...

Anyway, wanted you all to know I have a plan. A tentative plan at least. Still lots of ifs in that plan. But it gives me peace of mind.

No time to post the actual plan. Darian and I are off to Planet Thailand. I'm going to drown my sorrows over the fact that Soupman, one of my fav lunch places in STL, is closing today, efore I could have my last soup, in some yummy stir fry.

Fill you in later! Love and miss you all!

Jesus take the wheel

2010-07-07T16:20:00.000-07:00

I'm posting this from my blackberry, so if things are wrong here, that's why. I love that Carrie Underwood song. And right now it is very fitting for my life.

Recently, doors seem to be opening somewhat. Not fully, at least not as fully as I want. But doors I've been praying to open are starting to be unlocked. The problem is, I have no idea which door to go through.

- Temp job here. It has been offered to me! Problem is, it's only temporary. Now I could stretch it to 3 mos or so. But there are no guarantees and a whole lot of ifs involved here.

- Org here. Still no word. But I need to call the woman I met and meet with her.

- Melrose. Ranger pos are opening, I'm gonna apply. There's also the STEP program. I'd have to be a student, but it would be a job. Plus I could combine it with the first option.

The top and bottom combo was what I was leaning towards. Till this latest amazing but frustrating monkey wrench.
-job I applied to before coming down here. I had what I guess you could say was a preinterview today. I think I nailed it. As much as I can nail a preinterview. I'm not guaranteed an official phone interview. It'll be two weeks before I know for sure if I got a phone interview or not. But signs are good. Then they'll make a cut and the finalists will go up there. Then they'll pick one. I think I've got a good shot and some legs up. But assuming that I make it to the finalists, it'll be the fall before I know for sure. And eben if I don't make it to the finals, it'll prob be 3 or 4 wks before I know if I got an in person interview. That means it'll be hard to commit to one of the ones above. HUGE monkey wrench.

I've been praying for these doors to open. I've said that wherever God wanted to send me, I would go. But now so many options are starting to be presented that I don't know which one to do! And if there's one thing I HATE, its not knowing!

Otherwise life is good.

Be praying for guidance for me!

Love and miss you!

It's my life, it's now or never

2010-07-01T15:31:00.000-07:00

Yeah I felt like a little Bon Jovi today. Don't know why. It just popped into my head.

So here's the update from Natchez:

1. Jr. Ranger Camp. I survived! Barely. I thought I was gonna KILL some of those kids, 1 in particular. I know this is crazy coming from the girl who wants to go into museum education. But here's the thing. I really would have been fine if these were normal kids. And most of them were. But there were 3 that were demons. And they drew others in with them! Plus on Wednesday, the whole crew were just MONSTERS. There's no other way to explain it. MONSTERS. I know kids will be kids. I know they'll interrupt. I know they'll be loud. All that stuff. But here are some of the things we dealt with -

Soap on the doors of the bathroom (twice) at William Johnson House while there were visitors coming into Johnson house
Trashing the bathrooms at Melrose
Kids tipping the picnic tables by sitting on them
Kids walking on the picnic tables
Getting so rough while wrestling that a kid ended up crying
Running into the street after we told them to wait
Having a girl take the gunk off her shoe and throw it at Christina
Throwing paper towels at Christina after they trashed out the bathroom
Kicking down the door of the 1800s-1900s play house at Melrose
Stealing my shoes and throwing them into the bushes
Running down to the pond by themselves to throw a giant stick into the pond
Telling me multiple times how other kids were making fun of me, then laughing with another intern about how I scolded them after they put soap all over the bathroom.

Yeah. And that doesn't include the normal kid stuff. See. MONSTERS!

2. Jobs. This week it's been pretty good news. Still no official "yes" on a job yet. But I've got leads!

- House down here, I won't say which, one I applied to before. I've been giving tours on the weekends there, and one of the ladies that runs it really loves my tour. My curator at Melrose has been helping them inventory the whole collection, but she's been sick and hasn't been able to do it recently, so I'm going to help with that project. BUT I'm already working 7 days a week, so I can help a little in between tours and 1 or 2 nights in the evening, but by god I deserve some time off. So there's only so much I can do. THUS, I am hoping I can impress them and swing it so that they hire me part time after this internship is done to finish the project

- Two houses down here, run by big organization, won't say which. So I went with Darian to a book club down here. I'm introducing myself to the women, they ask what I do when I'm not here, I say right now I don't know, I just graduated. The woman next to me goes "I need to talk to you". Turns out I'm sitting next to the president of one of the biggest organizations in Natchez that runs two really famous houses down here (1 is being used in True Blood as the King of MS house right now) and they've been looking for someone. They're still debating the position. But I sent my stuff in. Good thing - hasn't been posted yet, basically non existent applicant pool, plus my curator is pulling for me. Bad thing - they could cut the position.

- Melrose. Planning to apply for 2 of the 3 ranger positions opening and still looking itno the STEP program

- Recent job I was upset about. Got my thanks but no thanks letter. Best one of those I've gotten. They put it off for 6 months (well they said at least 6 months, but still that's better than a year!) and they want to contact me later!! I STILL HAVE HOPE!

- Others. Still applying. We'll see.

3. Life. Things have been good down here. I've been super busy and time is flying, which is great. I've discovered that I really like Natchez, which is good cause there's a chance I'll be staying here (fingers crossed - I really want a job!) I still miss everyone at home though!

Tonight I"m going to see Eclipse. The only theater in Natchez didn't have a midnight showing on Tuesday, and I was exhausted after Ruby Tuesday's yesterday and didn't go last night. But tonight I am gonna get my oogling on!!!

LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL!

Kids say the darndest things - Jr. Ranger Camp

2010-06-21T15:05:00.000-07:00

So this week is junior ranger camp. 5 days. 30 kids between the ages of 8 and 12. All outdoor activities. CRAZY WEEK. Today was the first day of it. Here are some of the things overheard:

While trying to get a kid to do his worksheet on different positions in the park -
Little boy: I don't really like workin' (yes workin', southern drawl)
Me to Melissa and Dave, park rangers: Well that's gonna be a problem later in life.

To a law enforcement ranger -
Boy: I thought police officers carry a Glock 45
Me to Christina, another intern: I don't even know what a Glock 45 is!

While going to the slave cabin -
Little black girl (with her finger going, ala "Oh no you didn't"): Uh uh, I'm not going in there, just cause I'm black don't mean I'm no slave!

While on the tour of Melrose -
Jessica, park ranger: We'll see John McMurran upstairs
Kid: You mean we can see his ghost?!
Jessica: No. His picture.

On tour of Melrose, after we told them not to step on the oilcloth -
Kid: I accidentally stepped on it, don't hit me!
Jessica: It's ok, it was an accident, I won't hit you. I will cut your feet off though (joking)
Me: Yeah, we've got machetes in the visitor's center

And my personal favorite... best one of the day...
On the way to the bathroom -
Little boy: Ma'am, I have a problem
Me: What's that?
Boy: My butt itches
Me: Well you can scratch it when you get in the bathroom
Boy: On the inside
Me: (trying not to laugh) OH. Well, I don't know what to do about that...

We also had a little girl pick up a dead frog down by the pond and bring it up to the carriage house, then get mad when we threw it out. Oh and they also kicked in the door to the playhouse, built by Melrose's 2nd owners, the Davis' for their grandkids...

Hilarious. And this is only the first day. I can't wait to see what the rest of the week brings.

hahahahahah.

Love and miss you all!

Yoga is my new best friend

2010-06-18T15:27:00.000-07:00

Yoga is my new best friend. Seriously. Like you think I'm joking. Nope. Def not. It is AH-MAZING! Here's the deal. It has been one hell of a roller coaster week. Yoga has saved my butt on 2 days where I was really depressed.

Monday I found out that Natchez was filling the museum technician position I was hoping for. One of the rangers who's been here for 7 years, and who I like a lot, got it. Now don't hear what I'm not saying. I'm not mad that she got it. I love Jessica, she's a sweetheart. She's been here 7 years, she really wanted the position, and she'll be great at it. I'm a relative newbie, so that probably would have caused problems anwyay. I didn't really want the position except as a backup. So it's not that. Still, it's a bummer getting passed over. On top of that, everything kept breaking at work on Monday. Sucky day overall. I went to yoga class. Seriously, an hour later, I felt SO much better. Like I went from crying to my dad on the phone to absolutely fine. Awesome.

Tuesday was a good day. A great day actually. WE WON TRIVIA! Partly because I knew movies and Stephen Hawking - thank you Legally Blonde "they say Stephen Hawking stole his A brief history of time from my 4th grade paper"

Past two days were good. Nothing really to report.

Today I agreed to hostess every weekend for Rosalie, 9-5. So I will be working 7 days a week. They're making an exception for me to go to Kilgore and see Luke and Emily in Texas Shakespeare Festival. I might also ask for another exception so I can go to New ORleans at some point. But otherwise I'm working 7 days a week, either 8-5 (for Melrose) or 9-5 (for Rosalie) till August. Yeah.

Then I got devastating news. Galveston bit the dust. Well, we're about 95% sure Galveston bit the dust. It could come back to life. But that's not looking very good. It wasn't my fault that Galveston bit the dust though. The finance committee took the position out of next years budget, so they cna't pay it. Yeah. The budget still has to be approved, and things are looking better than they had origianlly anticipated, and they know they desperately need a curator, so it COULD be put back in there. But right now it doesn't look good. I was really upset. I left work a little early today and sobbed my whole way home. But I knew I had to go to Rosalie and pick up my stuff to learn the story so I can start giving tours there soon. So I decided to try and see if I could get the same feeling I did when I was bummed on Monday. Keep in mind that I was MUCH more upset about Galveston than I was about the museum tech. I did 10 minutes of yoga, versus an hour. I felt SO much better. I don't know if it was taking the time in the corpse pose to pray, or just focusing on "inhale, exhale" or something about the poses. But whatever it was, it works! Granted, after I go to the ballet with Darian tonight, I will probably go home and have a break down. But still. For right now, it got me to the point that I could go to Rosalie and get me stuff, fill out an application for a job in Hawaii, and get ready for the ballet, all without sobbing, hyperventilating, or having red eyes and tear stains! THIS IS AMAZING!

Oh and I decided to claim a little bit of disability in my national park service job applications. They have the option of "distortion of a limb or spine" on their disability thing. I have scoliosis. My spine is curved. Thus it is distorted. I'm hoping that means I qualify for section A, so I can skip all the interview and bs process and get hired instantly. HERE'S HOPING.

I'm also applyign for a bunch of internships with the Student Conservation Association. Plus there's a whole list of jobs I've found that I'm sending out.

Something's gonna happen for me. I'm gonna find a job. After all, it only takes one. And all I need is my foot in the door. Even if it is just my tiny little pinkie toe, as it would be with the SCA or the STEP program. SOMETHING'S gotta work out, right?!

Love and miss you all. Please be praying for me as I get through these next few weeks. Theyt're going to be very stressful - I'm working 7 days a week and searchig for a job so that I don't have to come home in 8 weeks unemployed and without health insurance, all while having a life down here. Yeah.

"I'm going to Jackson"

2010-06-12T10:35:00.000-07:00

I love that Johnny Cash/June Carter song "Jackson". So I pulled out a line from there. Cause technically, I am. Tomorrow.

Here's the latest update. Things have been crazy down here! First off, my project. I've really enjoyed the project thus far! Scott and I spent the past week cataloging about 96 books from George Malin Davis, the 2nd owner of Melrose who bought the house from the McMurran family after the Civil War - the Davis descendants were there till 1975, and one of the descendants donated a HUGE collection including a bunch of books. There were books in there from 1640! Well, just one. Most were from the 1800s. But still. AWESOME! Now we're cataloging some maps, all copies of stuff, a bunch of slides that I think are from the 60s, some pantaloons, and a bunch of furniture. I don't think it'll take us that long. Then we're starting on an archive project, going through all these letters and stuff from the Davis family. SUPER EXCITED!

So that project appeals to my curatorial side. I'm working on appealing to my education side with Rosalie. If you don't know already, I am summer hostessing over there. I'll be working weekends, giving tours at Rosalie, getting paid minimum wage. I'm excited, I took a tour this morning and it's got a really great family story. I've got to fill out the application and turn it in, but that'll probably start next weekend or so.

So what have I been doing down here? I think the better question is what HAVEN'T I been doing down here! Since I moved down a week ago this past Thursday, I have had something going on every single night, except last night. Last night was the first time I've had a night off. It was GLORIOUS - I watched Must Love Dogs and Steel Magnolias and part of Mean Girls before falling asleep. Yeah things have just been super busy. I've been hanging out with Kaitlyn and Emily and Darian and everybody a lot. And I guess Natchez just finally has some sort of a life, or at least I do down here!

For those wondering, yes I did meet someone down here. I'm not gonna go into detail on here. That's tacky. But basically, met him at Bowie's Tavern. Sweet guy. Went out on Thursday, had an awesome time. He's coming to trivia on Tuesday. Lots of fun. Hey, summer romance, I'll take it.

Oh, Trivia! Fun story. So I played with the Melrose team, we called ourselves "Tables of 8" cause we had 8 people. Apparently they're always "Table of ____" and it worked out well that "Tables of 8" was like "Pieces of 8" :-). Anyway, I wasn't much of a help through the first 3 rounds - there's only 4 - current events, The Beatles, and General knowledge. We were in 3rd or 4th place, 3rd I think. Then he pulls up "Worst Movies Ever". I'm not even kidding you, Christina and I totally ROCKED OUT that category. With the exception of the first question, which Scott knew, Christina and I basically just passed the sheet back and forth answering questions. I knew such classics as "Gigli", "From Justin to Kelly", "The League of Extraordinary Gentleman", "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull", and "Freddy got Fingered". Christina had "Howard the Duck", "Cool as Ice", and the directors for 2 movies. We got a PERFECT score in round 4 and went from 3rd to tied with Kaitlyn's family, the Mayfields, for first place!! The tie breaker was Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan novels. They wrote more down than we did. We got 5, they got 8, so they won. But if we had to lose to someone, I'm glad it was them. I love trivia, I'm gonna keep doing it. And apparently there's a wager on it this week ;-).

Tonight is Solid Gold Saturday Night, so I'm gonna go to that at Bowie's. They're having a mechanical bull. I think Kaitlyn and I (after a beer or 2) are gonna ride it. We're trying to convince Christina to do it too - our thought is, if we're doing it, so is she! Tomorrow's Darian's ordination, so I'm going to that in Jackson (thus the title). Monday is work and yoga. Tuesday is Trivia. Yep.

So that's it! And so you all know, just cause I'm having fun down here does not mean that I don't miss you all like crazy!!!!!

OH I'm still trying to get all my contacts back together from my phone. When I got down here, my blackberry randomly and suddenly deleted all my numbers :-(. So please txt me and tell me who you are when you do, so I have your numbers!

Miss and love you all!

Short and sweet

2010-06-08T15:45:00.000-07:00

Alright so this is gonna have to be a short and sweet post, because I only have 15 minutes before the library closes, and I don't want to get locked in - I've got trivia tonight!

This has been my schedule since getting down here -

Thursday - moved down to Natchez, had dinner with Darian
Friday - took Dad to the airport. Hung out around town. Stayed with Kaitlyn's family, my intern friend from last summer. Had crawfish for the first time - yum! Watched Alice in Wonderland
Saturday - slept WAY too late. Moved into my apt. Had lunch with Kaitlyn's fam, dinner with Christina's. Caught up with my friends. Went to Bowie's Tavern. Out till 1:30. Saw someone peeing in the bushes and a fight. Met someone ;-). AWESOME AWESOME night.
Sunday - Church in the morning. Did my Walmart run. Saw most of Lolita for the first time - creepy movie! Went to my first Yoga class. Ate red beans and rice with the Mayfield's and watched Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged. STILL laugh at "Cut the crap Hamlet! My biological clock is ticking and I want babies now!"
Monday - started work. Yoga class at 6. Went to Emily's with Kaitlyn, Christina and Scott (Christina and Scott are my roommates, btw), had cookies, ordered pizza, watched youtube videos ("Shun the non-believers! Shuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnaaaaa!"), and watched Mystery Science Theater 3000. Talked on the phone ;-).
Tuesday - Work. Had a tour of the local Jewish temple. Checking internet now. Trivia later tonight - apparently the whole town goes to trivia at Bowie's on Tuesdays, I'm excited it should be fun!
Wednesday - Work then dinner :-).

Next weekend, Bowie's is hosting solid gold Saturday night with a mechanical bull and a band and stuff, then Sunday is Darian's graduation, followed by Yoga on Monday and doing it all over again.

CRAZY! This town actually has a life - where was it last summer, when I was bored out of my skull?!

I'll fill you in on my project later. Gotta go before they kick me out!

OH and I do get facebook on my blackberry. HALLELUJAH!

Planning to check on job stuff when I have a free minute - looks like Thursday...

LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL!

Mississippi girl

2010-06-04T11:31:00.000-07:00

Hi from Natchez ya'll! Yep. I just pulled out the ya'll.

So Dad and I headed down here last night. We had dinner with Darian, my pastor friend from last summer, at Cotton Alley, a new restaurant in town. AWESOME seeing her. Food... eh. Dad and I had jambalaya - both agreed it wasn't jambalaya, cause it was in a cream sauce. But still yummy. And they've got reasonable prices on other stuff. So it's all good. Then we drove around Natchez for a bit before heading back to the hotel. I took him to the airport this morning, then had lunch at Pearl Street Pasta (Shrimp scampi - YUM!) and am now hanging out at the library, charging my ipod, computer, and trying to get my ebook reader to update. I'll be spending the afternoon running errands/hanging out around town before meeting up with Kaitlyn at 5 (can't wait to see her!), staying with her tonight, and moving into the apartment tomorrow. My roommates - the other 2 interns that are in from out of town, same ones from last summer - will be here tomorrow too. Busy already!

I've really started getting excited about being down here. As much as I complained about it last summer, I really do love this town. After all, it's hard to find more history and more antebellum homes than Natchez has. Yes, it's not a lively town. Mainly retirees and older. But I realized over the past year that, if I have a group of friends, even a small one, and something regular to do at nights, I don't NEED a big city with tons of stuff to do. Example - I'm from St. Louis, MUCH bigger than Natchez' 20,000 people. Yet I don't go out clubbing or partying or even just restaurants and stuff all the time. Instead, I spent the past year going to friend's houses, doing stuff with my church, hanging out, etc. So if I have some regular interaction/can get out of the apartment regularly, I really am OK with not having tons of options on stuff to do. I've already got friends down here, Darian and I are gonna try to start up ladies night at the Vue regularly (bar here that overlooks the Mississippi River) - we did that last summer, apparently sometime after i left it kinda fizzled out, but we're gonna try to start it again. Plus Darian teaches yoga and some friends I know go to that, so I'm gonna try that. Never done yoga before. Should be interesting. AND I found out Shreveport's only 3-4 hours away, which means my sister and Luke are just 4-5 hours away. So if I need to see my family, I can go up and visit them. And if I need a doggie fix, I can go see their sweet mutt, Ella, who LOVES her Aunt Katherine :-).

Yeah I think it's gonna be a good summer. I don't think I"ll be as homesick and surely not as lonely. Plus my background check is through already, so I don't have to deal with the pain of that. My big resolutions are just to get out of that apartment more. Walk around. See more houses. Travel around more. Just get away from the TV.

OH and I've realized I can get FACEBOOK ON MY PHONE!!!!! *cue Hallelujah chorus*. So I can put off the internet withdrawal a little. Oh did I forget to mention that? The apartment doesn't have internet. Yeah. BUT the library does, as does the coffee shop, and my church down here, Grace UMC, does and Darian said I can use the wifi there, so it should be good.

Plus I'm getting a new computer. *cue Ode to Joy*. I'm SO EXCITED about that! It'll be here Monday.

Still no news on the job front. I'm gonna continue searching this summer. Keep your fingers crossed.

One last thing. Remember I don't have internet down here, so I prob won't be updating the blog quite as much as I have. I'll try but we'll see what happens. I want to try and get away from my "I need internet!" fixes and enjoy Natchez, Mississippi, and Louisiana a little more. So while I may be checking facebook on my phone... ok I def will... if I"m not on here, that's what's up.

Miss you all already! But I think I'm gonna be fine down here. Catch you on the flip side!

Love you all,
Katherine

Just a little while longer

2010-05-24T13:01:00.000-07:00

So in a week and a half, I head down to Natchez. That's really crazy to say. Hard to believe it's here already. I'm kinda eh about it. I mean, I'm excited to get down there. Maybe not quite as excited as I was last summer, cause I know what to expect now. But less nervous. And a lot more excited to see the people I know from down there. I also know that I may not be coming back after these 10 weeks, except to get my stuff from my apartment. Now that's anything but definite. I don't know what's going to happen with the jobs I've applied for. I could be back here after 10 weeks. But there's a possibility I won't be either. And that's a really weird feeling.

Last night was my graduation/going away party. I was a little nervous cause I have very different groups of friends, and I wasn't sure if they'd all get along. But it was GREAT! Everyone had a good time, I think. Except for one friend who's back window got broken. I felt SO BAD. But it's OK everything was fine, they didn't take anything. Possibly some recyclables, which we think she took out already. But nothing else. Luckily she'd cleaned her car out already. But other than that, it was wonderful. I felt really special seeing how many people came out, and very celebrated. Thank you to everyone that came!! And thank you to my AMAZING parents who did that for me.

My only bummer from last night. I forgot my camera!! So I didn't get any pictures! BUMMER!

I guess I said bye last night to people. It just didn't feel like bye. This is so hard.

Life's like a road that you travel on, where there's one day here and the next day gone

2010-05-21T15:24:00.000-07:00

Yeah I kinda have an obsession with using song lyrics as the title for my posts. I'm a little crazy. Sorry.

So my trip down the road of life (yep I just used that cliche) with Campbell House ended today. It was my last day at Campbell House Museum. 5 years there. We had a good run. I worked really hard. And I grew to love the family. I know I wouldn't be where I am today (just graduated with a masters in museum studies) without that place. So I owe it a lot. Now, I am happy to be done. It feels GREAT to finally finish. But I"m also sad. I cried when I left. Not because I"m leaving the job. Or even cause I'm leaving the staff there, who are AMAZING but I know I'll keep up wtih them via email and facebook and stuff. I cried because i was leaving the Campbells. Robert, Virginia, Lucy, the boys, Gus. That's what made it hard. Before you all start thinking I"m crazy, let me explain. My first summer there, I transcribed 300 personal letters of the family. That means I read them and typed them into the computer. I then went through a HUGE estate case with lots of stories of the family. I've also posted letters on a blog and written a children's book about the story. I know these people like the back of my hand. To me, the Campbells are just like the characters in a favorite book that you read over and over - they are real to me, even though I've never met them. Actually, they're more than that. The Campbells are family. So leaving them was REALLY REALLY hard. Like I said, I cried, something I haven't done since my very first summer there.

But like I said, lately life has always been there to offer me a balance. Today it was my cousin Lauren. I got to talk to her and celebrate the fact that she and her husband Kevin are having a GIRL in October! As I put it, they're going to have a "little curly-headed, smart, kinda weird, ham", the perfect mix of both of them. I can't wait to meet this sweet little baby girl! And it's exciting, cause of my cousins that have had kids, we've had 3 boys so far. It's nice to have a girl in the mix! We're so excited, CONGRATS LAUREN AND KEVIN!!!

So I now leave you with this...

That's right folks. That's my soon to be second-cousin, the first girl of the next generation. And that little booger is WAVING!

Celebrate good times, come on!

2010-05-19T09:58:00.000-07:00

So I probably shouldn't post this out there but whatev. Sunday my parents are having a shindig for me to celebrate the fact that I graduated. It's also to send me off in style, cause I"m headed to Natchez for 10 weeks. Sunday May 23. 7:00. Burgers and hot dogs and such will be served. My parents house. Email or facebook me for more info. COME!

P-A-R-T-YYYY? Because I GOTTA!

2010-05-18T10:34:00.000-07:00

Yep. I totally just pulled out that cheesy Jim Carrey 1990's line from the Mask. Cause I"m cool like that.

Seriously though yesterday was Mom and Dad's party. Considering the way that the Heugatter family gets ready for parties, there was very little drama with this one. And everyone had a blast. Mom and Dad definitely felt celebrated, as they should have, cause if anybody deserves to be celebrated it's those two. They loved everything we did for them, and I got more help that I was expecting so things turned out perfectly.

Today was a bad morning. I can't find my keys. Anywhere. I'm sure they're in my apartment, cause i had them to get in. But somewhere between when I got in and when I was ready to leave, my keys disappeared. And I ran out of meds. I have ADD. Those of you who have seen me not on my meds, you know this is a BAD idea. I'm OK now, things worked out. But yeah. Not fun.

Now I'm finishing up a few things at Campbell House, then heading to the zoo with Daddy, Emily and LUke. I haven't been to the zoo in years. Luke's never been to the St. Louis Zoo. We're excited.

Wish me luck that i find those keys - kind of an important item!!

And for my next trick...

2010-05-16T13:35:00.001-07:00

And for my next trick... I will... do... something...

That kinda sums up how I"m feeling right now. I graduated from graduate school yesterday. I'm SO excited about that. I am done and it feels AMAZING. The past few nights, I've gotten to do somethign I NEVER get to do - read for FUN. That's right people. I'm a nerd and I'm proud of it. Granted, I wasn't reading the next great American novel. It was books by Lisa Kleypas and Cathy Maxwell. Trashy roamnce novels, in other words. The bubble gum of literature. But still. It wasn't required for school. And I got to choose it. And I LOVED it.

But at the same time, I'm starting to get terrified. For the first time in my life, I don't know what my next step will be. Yes I'm doing the internship in Natchez. And I'm still in the race for one thing. I've applied several other places. And I know that it's gonna happen. I'm gonna find a full time job in a museum. But still. It's scary. Because I've done school straight, I've always known what the next step is. Elementary school, junior high, college, grad school. Yes with the latter two, I had to apply and get in. But still. I got in. I don't know what's next for me, at least after August. And for a control freak that worries about "What ifs", that's scary as hell.

The other thing is that I'm sad. Tonight I'm going out for one last hoorah with my cohort, or most of them at least. I don't know when we'll all be together again. Granted I could be back in St. Louis without a job after Natchez. But, for all I know (and hopefully this will happen), I could go down to Natchez, get a job this summer, and end up moving somewhere in August. Same thing could happen with a lot of these people.

The group I really haven't faced saying goodbye to is my church. It hit me today that I only have 2 Sundays left with them. Makes me really sad.

And then there's all the other friends I've made in St. Louis. ALl these people constitute groups that I would not have survived the past 2 years without. I'm so ready to know what the next step is and get to it. But I hate not knowing what it is. And I hate the thought of leaving these incredible people.

In other news, the surprise of having the song that was at Mom and Dad's wedding played at church today went off without a hitch! Tomorrow's the big anniversary party. I'm excited, it's gonna be great!

To all who read this blog and have been in my life in St. Louis the past two years. Thank you all so much. Know that I wouldn't have gotten through the past 2 years in St. Louis without you. I love you all.

OK. I've gotta stop writing this now or I'm gonna get way too depressed. As Magda said at Miranda and Steve's wedding on Sex and the City, "Come on everybody, it happy time! Clap clap clap, it happy time!"

Done done done done, done done done, done done done

2010-05-13T08:46:00.001-07:00

[Sung to Darth Vader's theme]
Done done done done, done done done, done done done
Done done done done, done done done, done done done
DONE done duh-duh-duh-duh, done done done duh-duh-duh-duh
Done done done done done, done done done, done done DOOOOONNNNNEEE!!

That's right! I am DONE! My paper is finished! That was my last assignment for graduate school! I graduate on Saturday! I AM DONE!!!!!!

It feels AMAZING to say that. I've worked my butt off for 19 years straight (from kindergarten-2 years of masters). Now, on Saturday, I will walk across that stage and receive my advanced degree. Well, technically I will receive an empty folder. My actual diploma will come later. But the point is I will GRADUATE with my masters. I am done!

This feels especially good considering my day yesterday. I took the day off work to finish reading about the Cuban Missile Crisis and write my 15 page paper. I'm finally ready to start writing it. And my computer starts freezing. So I restart it. It does the same thing. I'm freaking out. Luckily my parents are only 5 minutes away, so I went over there and wrote it. 16 pages including a bibliography. 11.5 font, 1 in margins, 1.5 spacing. Over 6,000 words. But that thing is FINISHED AND TURNED IN. So I am done with UMSL's museum studies program! And fingers crossed, that means I will be done FOREVER!

Now there is a chance that I will not in fact be done forever. If I do the STEP program with Natchez, I will have to be a student. That means taking being enrolled at least 1/2 time in an accredited program online. In exchange I'd get to be the museum tech at Natchez, which could lead to a full time job. I would prefer just having a job, cause I'm really sick of school. 19 YEARS STRAIGHT PEOPLE. If you count preschool, I've been doing school since I was 4. That's a LONG TIME. WITH NO BREAK. I'm ready to get into the real world. But if the STEP program is my way into the real world, I'll figure out how to get into an online masters program for historic preservation and do a 2nd masters.

Right now I'm just enjoying the fact that, at least for a while/hopefully the foreseeable future, I have no homework. No assignments. No school. I am DONE!

I worked hard these past 2 years and Saturday is the culmination of it. In the words of James Brown -

OOOOH I feel good, done nah nah nah nah nah nah,
I knew that I would hah, done nah nah nah nah nah nah
SO GOOD! done done
SO GOOD! done
I feel good! done done done done DONE!
HEY!

Post-mother's day post

2010-05-10T12:36:00.000-07:00

SO I hope you all had a great mother's day! I hope you made your mom feel really special. I think my mom had a good one. At least I hope she did. I went up and had breakfast with her at Lafayette Park, then I gave her her card and gift - a gift card to Park Ave. Coffee and the offer for me to work at the shop Thursday night and Sunday morning. Then Daddy and I cleaned the house while she worked the shop and I got to study a little. Emily came in with the Centenary improv troupe, Alan's Hot Tub. Luke got in late, he had to drive a girl who couldn't leave in the morning. You all missed a really great show, it was HILARIOUS! The kids were great and yours truly plus her mom got to jump into the "tub" and play! Awesomeness. Today Mom and Dad made the troupe breakfast and they headed out. So I think Mom had a good mother's day. I know she made me feel special - she gave me a necklace as a congratulations on finishing my exit project and to cheer me up cause I was bummed after Rosalie. It's got symbols for the things I care about - a star, for guiding me to the perfect job, a cross for my church, and a paw print for dogs/Bixby. I love my mom. Happy mother's day everybody!

Today I picked up my glasses. Yes I need glasses. The prescription's real slight, but I can definitely see better now. AND they look great, they definitely make me look older.

I also went to get my M-2 form. I kept waiting for the committee member I'd left the form with to come in so I could grab the form and take it to the committee chair. Waited 45 mins. Nothing. Then I got an e-mail from Jay saying Lankford, my chair, had it with both signatures and was bringing it to him. So that's in, and my exit project is DONE! So I just have a historiography paper due Wednesday and I am DONE WITH GRAD SCHOOL!!!!!!

Here's the potentially great news I got today. It has to do with the job description I referenced earlier. I tried to use a metaphor but I just couldn't get it to work so here goes. Basically I found out that the guy at the Ford House that I'm sending my stuff in to/would be my boss graduated from the UMSL museum studies program AND did his GRA at Campbell House. Yeah. Granted this does not guarantee me anything. BUT the fact that we have similar credentials may help me get a second look, rather than 20 secs and in the trash. AND it means he knows Campbell House, so I won't get the "This will teach you about small museums" I did from Rosalie. AND he knows 2 of my references. :-)

That's it. Hope you all had a good mother's day!

Life is a balance

2010-05-07T11:19:00.000-07:00

It's amazing how balanced my big ups and downs seem to have been lately. So many times, when something I had really wanted ends up saying no, something else comes along that either says yes or indicates closer to a yes. One more sign that someone out there is looking out for me.

So I talked about my big news with "the race" yesterday. I've said some stuff on here about Rosalie before, the antebellum house with the manager position where I'd live behind the place. Just talked to the president of the board there. I didn't get it. Essentially they didn't think I was qualified for it. But that's OK. Cause I'm still running the race for something else and there's just me and 9 other runners left. And I was told that I had the best "form" of a runner that they'd seen, or one of the best... use the metaphor... Rosalie has offered me a summer hostessing job. I'd be giving tours on the weekends and helping the museum with anything they needed. Basically exactly what I do with Eugene Field House already, except I'd get paid minimum wage.

Here's the kicker on Rosalie though. It's not that I "wasn't qualified", cause the idea of running the house basically on my own did scare me. But I don't think they really looked at my resume. First off, she said "Well you're just graduating from college". Technically yeah, I am graduating. But WITH MY MASTERS. I'm not some untested undergrad with no real world experience! The other thing, and actually worse thing, is that they seemed to think that I've only worked with big federal museums and the National Park Service. She said that the summer hostessing job would give me a chance to see how a small house museum works because it's very different from the NPS, they have 2 gardners and they do everything themselves, 1 housekeeper and she does everything herself, etc. Yeah. I've seen how small historic house museums work. It's called 5 years at Campbell House Museum with 1-2 staff persons, interns, and volunteers. They don't even have a housekeeper. A board member comes in and cleans the place. Oh, it's also called Eugene Field House, where they have 3 paid staff members, 1-2 interns, and volunteers. It's all RIGHT THERE on my resume. And in my cover letter.

I'm not TOO upset. At least not as upset as I'd thought I would be. I kinda figured that was the case since I sent my stuff in over a month ago and hadn't heard anything. Plus I know that at least somewhere likes what I have thanks to my news yesterday. And I'm sending my stuff in for the job that Jay sent me. But still. Seriously? SERIOUSLY?

At least this is balanced out by yesterday.

Believe it or not, I'm walking on air

2010-05-06T15:23:00.000-07:00

Yep I used that cheesy song lyric as the title of my blog post. But I have a good reason. Cause I am.

My exit project is DONE! I've still got to get it in to Jay and my committee, and the museum may want to make some tweaks to the book before we print it to sell in the gift shop, but the binders are together and overall everything is DONE for the committee!!!! HUGE weight off my shoulders!

I can't say the other thing that really made my day and made me start walking on air. I don't want to jinx anything. Or be stupid and post something on my blog that someone sees and is like "Right, scratch that one off the list". But basically I got good news on something. It's not the ABSOLUTE BEST NEWS IN THE WORLD, SOMETHING THAT WOULD HAVE ME JUMPING UP AND DOWN AND FREAKING OUT that I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for (I think you can all deduce what that absolute best news would be) but it is good news.

Here's a metaphor for the news: I've been in a race for something. The finish line is towards the very very southern tip of the US, close to the place I was born, surrounded by water, where they sometimes have really big storms that have names. I found out today that I am still in the race, getting towards the home stretch, and a lot of the other runners, all but 10 of us, have been disqualified.

I think you can figure out my news now.

The other big news I have is that Jay Rounds, the head of my program, forwarded me another job posting. It's in Detroit. Education department in a historic house museum. What was it that I said I wanted?? Oh right, THAT. The guy had asked if Jay had anyone in mind for the position... he fwded it to me... and only me!

So yeah I"m feeling pretty good right now.

Well I'm off to dinner and drinks with my friend Sarah from HS that I haven't seen since graduation. Excited!

And can I just say how much I LOVE family and friends that get super duper excited for me when I tell them my news? I love you guys!

Parents anniversary

2010-04-29T20:30:00.000-07:00

So today I could really and honestly see things start to come together for my parents anniversary party. And let me tell you, it felt AH-MAZING.

Some of these things they don't know about so SSSHHHH. Yes they know about the party but the other stuff is a secret. But it's k cause they never look at my blog.

Basically here's what it boils down to -

Hymn from their wedding at church the day before + party with their friends and likely catered by Ricardos, which I'm getting a quote for that tomorrow + sending out invites + having my sister and soon to be brother in law come in town + a nice gift + sending them to a nice B&B in St. Genevieve = quite possibly the best 30th anniversary ever. We're rockin this, and I'm super excited.

And I know this is bad to do cause of the whole idol thing (citylifers you know what I'm talking bout but the rest of you don't) it's awesome to know it all came together cause of me. I know that's bad. And that's my issue. But still. It's nice.

Everything and the kitchen sink

2010-04-29T08:58:00.000-07:00

You know that expression "everything and the kitchen sink"? Well that's what was thrown at me literally last night. No I don't mean our kitchen sink was actually thrown at me. But here's the story.

So Tuesday night I had been up till 4:30 AM working on a paper. I was exhausted. So I went home after work, sat on the couch, and watched Glee and Parenthood. It was great. Then I decided to get ready for CityLife. But first I check my facebook. That's when I see the message from my roommate's new bf (she had been trying to contact me but my phone's dead so I didn't know) saying they wanted to know if it's ok for him to stay over last night. I of course was fine with it. But it meant I had to clean. So I put off doing makeup for a few mins and pick up the apt a little.

Still good on time, I'm about to start doing makeup when I hear this drip drip drip. I look, can't find the source. Then I notice the rug in our kitchen is SOAKED and getting worse by the second. Look underneath... sure enough our kitchen sink is leaking. I try to pick it up (the water and the rug, not the sink). By the time I"m done, there's no time left for makeup. So I put some towels down, tell my roommate (who's coming in as I head out), and go to CityLife.

CityLife was nice and relaxing.

Then afterwards it's time for me to take care of the neighbors cat. The cat is diabetic so I have to give him his shot as well as feed him and their other cat, change the litter boxes, etc. I was a few hours late - 1.5 to be exact - but nothing bad. I'd been taking care of him for 3 weeks, the neighbors are coming home today. I open the door... THAT DAMN CAT RUNS OUTSIDE. And he won't come back when I'm calling him! I start freaking out of course. Run over, get my parents, we're all scouring the neighborhood, they even call the night patrol (which it turned out Phil was on the shift at the time) to try and help us find him. Finally my mom spots him... in the backyard... Dad had searched that place, I'd been yelling for him back there, she calls him a lil bit and out he comes! Damn cat! Bout gave me a heart attack for an hour!!

And of course by the time that's done, I've taken care of his shot, gave him a "Don't do that again!" talk, etc. there's all of 1 minute left of the PBS Great Performances showing of the RSC's Hamlet, with David Tennant (the 10th Doctor on Doctor Who) as Hamlet and Patrick Stewart (Captain Picaurd on STar Trek, which I never watched but know him from, also of SNL's "If it's not Scottish, it's crap!") as Claudius and Hamlet's father's ghost. So I missed all of that, when I coudl have caught the last hour and a half had I not been going all over Lafayette Square yelling "WALES! HERE KITTY KITTY!" and shaking treats for that damn cat.

Yeah that was my everything and the kitchen sink night. Tonight - I'm going to watch TV. Specifically Hamlet (which I started watching this morning - it's really good, but I am glad I wikipedia'd Hamlet and saw Luke in the ASC production 1st, cause I wouldn't know what was going on otherwise), Community, Bones, The Office, and 30 Rock.

PS. Anyone else find it interesting that 2 Scottish guys - Tennant and Stewart - were in Hamlet?? Why not just do the Scottish play at that point? JK!

Boo-OOOOOOK! (spoken like Bette Midler in Hocus Pocus)

2010-04-28T12:23:00.000-07:00

For some reason, that moment of Bette Midler's Winifred opening the shutters and crying "Boo-OOOOK!" from Hocus Pocus always stuck with me.

So as most, if not all, of you know, my exit project is creating a childrens book for Campbell House Museum that tells the story of the Campbell family in a way that kindergarten-3rd graders can understand. It'll be accompanied by a story time education program I'm designing. I've done the story, but I am definitely not an artist, so an art student at UMSL agreed to illustrate the book for me. I got some of the illustrations today! Check em out!

1. Gus the narrator (an actual person who was a servant here for 40 years) showing the kids the dining room
2. The kitchen, including the bell system
3. Gus the narrator's room
4. Grandma Lucy's room
5. The library. This is my favorite of the illustrations she's sent me. Although Gus' hand in his pocket doesn't look quite right...
6. Mr. Hugh's room

Aren't these great!! I put them into the book and it looks wonderful. I can't even tell you how awesome it feels to see your vision start coming together after a almost full year of work!

Books will be on sale at the Campbell House Museum gift shop, and also Looking Glass Designs of Lafayette Square. Plus we're just printing them at Kinko's, so if you want one, come talk to me and I can prob print one for you (but we'd prefer you support the museum or Mom's shop :-) ).

Anyway had to brag on myself cause these are awesome!

Reminders

2010-04-22T20:38:00.000-07:00

You know, this semester has not been an easy one. Classes have been tough. Projects have been tough. Oh and then there's been that amazing little experience called the job search - total piece of cake, just sunshine and puppies as Katherine D. would say... :-). There have definitely been times where I've gotten down. I've wondered sometimes if my chance is ever gonna come. I've even wondered occasionally if I'm even in the right field or if I really have what it takes to make it (wow I totally sound like a contestant on Project Runway or America's Next Top Model right now). Anyway the point is that it's been tough. But then you get those reminders that actually you are doing the right thing. And I got a big one today.

I'm gonna try not to go into all the details on this cause that would be boring and kinda tacky. But basically I've been working really hard on my exit project, and someone that I respect a lot, who really knows his stuff, and who has really been behind me on this project - and who is not easy to please from what I've heard - told me that, just from my program outline and story, without even seeing the final product of the book, it's an amazing product. I am kinda walking on air a little. The only thing that would make this day better would be a job offer... (hint hint, nudge nudge God :-) ). Seriously though, I'd already had a good day because I'd started putting the book together and realized that this baby I'd been envisioning really was a good idea. And to hear the same from the mouth of someone that knows museums is just incredible. And that's before showing the finished product!

Hearing that just renewed my faith that I am in the right field. I do know my stuff. And my time will come. Sure, as of today, April 22, I don't have a full time job lined up. But I've got an internship. I've got 3 good connections and possibilities. I've got a lot of passion and potential. And damnit, I know my stuff and I'm ready. So I've just gotta wait it out and trust that I am right and ready for a job, and that one's gonna come. It's just nice to get that reminder from someone else.

Now on to some crazy crazy weeks ahead!

My schedule for the next few weeks

2010-04-21T07:40:00.000-07:00

This is my schedule for the next few weeks/months. Read it and tell me it's not crazy.

Friday April 23 - dinner, CHARIS concert

Saturday April 24 - Art Underground

Sunday April 25 - help clean up from AU

This weekend - get party invitations out

Monday April 26 - eye doctor appointment, getting glasses (A. I need them, B. they make me look older and smarter)

Tuesday April 27 - historiography paper due

Tuesday April 27 - deadline for illustrator to get her stuff to me

Next week - put book together, put together education program

Tuesday May 4 - present historiography paper

That week (don't remember date off top of my head - 2nd historiography paper due

Friday May 7 - exit project, signed off by committee, due to Jay

Sunday May 9 - Mother's Day (right?) Still no idea what I'm doing for that.

Friday May 15 - graduation

Monday May 17 - parents 30th anniversary party

Weekend after that - Wash U graduation (lots of the basketball players that I've gotten to know are graduating). Parents of one of mom's students are prob taking us out to dinner

Around there - must have UMC descriptions finished

Sometime between the 20th and June 4th - move down to Natchez for the internship.

June 7 - Start Natchez internship

The last few may change if I get a job.

Oh and somewhere in there I have church and CityLife and a life in general.

IS THIS NOT CRAZY?

Does it ever slow down

2010-04-20T15:26:00.000-07:00

You know it's funny. Sometimes I get days where I can actually relax and enjoy myself. And then as soon as those are over, I pay for them cause I realize everything I should've done. Or forgot to do.

Life is just nuts right now. I have a book I have to put together within the next few weeks. Gotta get the illustrations to do that. I have to finalize the education program that goes with it. Put it all together and turn it in as my exit project.

I have to finish these descriptions for the Urban Museum Collaborative grant, which means i have to research these people and summarize all the research into 400-600 words. Sounds easy, right? Not really. It's not easy to put together descriptive detail, a biography, and national connections in 600 words or less. It's also not easy to write a blurb about an object in 400 words (though that's easier than the descriptions).

Planning Mom and Dad's party. Which seems to have been moved from Hodak's to the house. That's fine. But dad's out of town and I need to finalize a location and a guest list so we can get invites out.

Still hoping for jobs. I've gotta call both to check on how things are going.

Calling on housing for Natchez for the summer.

I have 2 huge historiography papers due. One's due next week. One's due a week after that. LOTS of work left to do there.

I graduate may 15. That's a whole other stressor.

Oh and I've got a ton of laundry to do. And I'm taking care of my neighbor's diabetic cat.

SERIOUSLY?

Deep thoughts

2010-04-15T08:56:00.000-07:00

So I'm gonna write on something that I've been thinking about and am divided on and I'm wanting to see what readers (however few of them there are) think about it. I bet everyone has heard about the woman in Tennessee who sent her adopted son back to Russia. Here are the details that I've gathered - granted, these details are all from news reports, I have no personal knowledge of this family.

A woman adopted a 7 year old Russian boy. The boy had been in an orphanage, which are notorious for being bad - kids get little affection, often are not well taken care of, etc. Many children who come from orphanages in Russia as well as other places and even here in the US have emotional problems. This boy, who she named Justin, was no exception. He had very very severe problems, which the woman says she was not told about from the orphanage. Justin would throw tantrums (and not normal kid tantrums) when he didn't get his way, threatening violence, drawing pictures of the house burning down and saying he was going to burn the house down with the family in it, etc. The family went to a psychologist for help, but only the PARENTS went, they did not take the boy (which seems super odd to me). The last straw was apparently attacking his adopted aunt with a statue when she asked him to correct some math problems. Finally, the adopted mom said she could not take care of Justin anymore, so she put him on a plane back to Russia with a small backpack, had someone pick him up at the airport and drop him off at the education ministry in Moscow, and left him with a note that essentially said, I can't handle this kid anymore so I no longer want to be his parent (I can't find the exact quote). The woman is now trying to adopt a kid from Georgia, she says she was already in the process before she got rid of Justin. Because of this case, the Russian ministry has apparently suspended all US-Russian adoptions - here's a link to a news story on that. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100415/ap_on_re_eu/eu_russia_us_adoptions

I really don't know where I stand on this issue. On the one hand, I don't want to just outright condemn the adoptive mother. I mean, in her shoes, could I really handle a 7 year old child from a foreign country that was threatening to murder me and my family because I asked him to clean his room (that may not have been the cause, just hypothetical) or was attacking my sister with a statue because she said he had done a math problem wrong? Those are some pretty big issues and, in her shoes, I don't know that I'd be able to handle it.

You know, some may say that the woman is making up some of her claims to justify sending him back. I have seen lots of adoption cases where the child is adopted, either here or overseas, and is PERFECTLY normal and wonderful (or as normal and wonderful as any kid ever can be) and things are just great. But I've also seen cases where families adopted older children, though sometimes not even as old as Justin was, and they had problems. A couple I know adopted a boy and a girl from the foster care system, and while they don't have the psychological problems that Justin seemed to, the boy is behind a little bit developmentally than where he should be because of treatment as a baby and in the womb. That's a mild case, I've seen cases with some severe problems. A family friend adopted a little boy (he was about 2 I think) from Russia several years ago; this couple was AMAZING. The little boy had some very severe problems, obviously had not been given much affection in the orphanage, and there were cases where, like Justin, he would threaten his parents - if I remember correctly, he even threatened the mom with a knife at one point, he was like 3 or 4 years old. The couples marriage ended because of the stress of this adoption. There was also a family that adopted a little girl through the foster care system when she was 5. I know this family and the little girl really well. There were some problems there, ones that I didn't realize till later, and some drastic steps were taken to get her help. But that ended up as a success story, as the girl is now in HS and doing FABULOUSLY - like, even better than I did in school in some ways. So I know that adoption cases, while many can be incredibly wonderful, can also put strain on couples.

Here's where I get on the fence on this issue. In all of the cases I've mentioned above, the adoptive parents did not give up on the child, even when it would have made a lot of sense to do just that (i.e. when the child's problems ended up causing you and your husband to divorce). Now like I said, in the woman who adopted Justin's shoes, I don't know what I would do, maybe something similar. But at the same time, what a thing to do. The whole point of adoption is to bring a child into your family and love them as if they were your own. It can be a real struggle proving to a kid that, no matter what they do, you're not going to give up on them or treat them any differently than your biological children just because you didn't give birth to them. What a thing for this little boy to go through - he was essentially (and almost literally due to the note) told "You're not good enough, so we don't want you anymore, go back to where you came from". Would she have said that to a child she gave birth to? So why do it to your adopted son just because he came from Russia?

Furthermore, my friend Sarah made a really good point that the woman never took Justin to a psychologist, just the adults to learn how to treat him. Would she have done that with her own kids? Now the other side of that coin is that, if Justin was her BIOLOGICAL son, he probably wouldn't have these problems because they were born of neglect and the treatment at the orphanage. But still... something to think about...

The other thing that upsets me is that this woman has now caused an international incident, and because of her, Russia has suspended all US adoptions, which hurts so many other families who just want to bring their children home. That does upset me.

So I'm really divided on this issue. On the one hand, in her shoes, I don't know that I could handle the problems that this boy had either. I do believe he had severe problems, because I've seen cases before where children had these problems. But I still firmly believe in adoption and think that adoptive parents need to make it their daily mission to show the child that, no matter what, they will always be their mom and dad and nothing will ever change that, even though they are not biologically related. I feel for the woman but I also REALLY feel for Justin, who was told he wasn't good enough to be loved and accepted by a woman he called Mommy. And I feel for all the families that are affected by this now.

What do you think??

Glorious spring day

2010-04-11T15:51:00.000-07:00

Today was wonderful. It's beautiful outside. So I went out and enjoyed it. Well, as much as I could. I went to church. Heard a really great sermon. Caught up with friends. Went to Rue Lafayette for a delicious BLT sandwich, tea latte (not as good as I thought but OK) and cup of strawberries. Yum. Then I went to Park Ave. Coffee and had a smoothie. Double yum.

Then I went to the grocery store. While there I bought a box of Penne pasta that had this recipe on it. I tried it and it is DELICIOUS and relatively easy too. So I'm posting it here:

Penne Pasta with Spinach and Tomatoes

Ingredients -
8 oz (I used 1/2-3/4 of a 16 oz box) of penne pasta
7 slices chopped Pancetta or bacon (it calls for 3 oz, I used 4 slices and then added 3 more cause I like bacon)
2 Tbsp olive oil, more to pour on top
2 cups fresh spinach (I just bought some at the store and tossed it in)
Garlic - the recipe calls for 1 large or 2 small gloves, I just used garlic salt and garlic pepper
1/4 cup Red Wine Vinegar - be sure not to put too much in, I think I might have, but it's still good
1 1/3 cup (or 1 can) of Grape or Cherry Tomatoes - I used diced tomatoes
Parmesan
What I added - 1 can mushrooms, 1 1/2 scallions, 3 celery stalks

1. Boil the penne - I did it in some chicken stock and water, you can do it in just water. Once it's cooked, drain it and set it aside
2. While the pasta boils, saute the pancetta/bacon in the olive oil till it's crisp. Remove the bacon and set it aside but leave all the juice.
3. Saute the spinach and garlic in the juice (this is when I added the mushrooms, scallions, and celery) till the spinach wilts
4. Add vinegar, cook about 2 mins (I combined this step with the next one and it still turned out good)
5. Add tomatoes, cook until tomatoes are softened and hot (bout 2-3 minutes)
6. Add tomatoes and pancetta/bacon. Toss it/stir it. Add parmesan on top.

Serves at least 3 people, probably about 4-5 servings. It's delish!

From thoughtful to funny

2010-04-09T08:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I posted a really thoughtful (or what I hope was really thoughtful) post. So today I figure we need some time to laugh. Watch these and tell me that at least one, if not all of them, don't make you laugh. Now I don't know how to actually turn these into links, so you'll just need to copy the URL and paste it in. Sorry.

1. My cousin Brandon and Susie have twin boys Luke and Hudson. This is Brandon making Luke laugh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWfbQuP_XuE&feature=player_embedded

2. My friends Katie and Russ's little boy Eliot playing basketball. This link is to her blog where you can see 2 videos of him playing - watch the 2nd one in particular. "Mommy I'm playing basketball, I can't make you your mac and cheese!"
http://katiemohr.blogspot.com/2010/03/progression-of-balla.html

3. The local news was doing a story on the World Bird Sanctuary. Apparently the pelican was not so happy with his trainer. As they say, right in the "unmentionables"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhFFyLl_s64&feature=youtube_gdata

Too many connections for it all to be random

2010-04-08T10:29:00.000-07:00

So I really try to keep this blog away from the religious side of stuff. I'm fine talking about my faith. I just feel a little uncomfortable writing about it on a blog with the possibility of offending people sometimes. But I started thinking about something last night and recently and I just had to write it.

As most of you, if not all, know, I am a Christian. Last night in my church's small group, we were talking about different things and I started thinking back about how I've gotten the place that I am, and hope to be at, in my life.

Campbell house:
- My parents house was built by Horace Bixby, who taught Mark Twain to be a steamboat pilot. I love this house.
- Freshman year of college, I went to the Nelson Atkins Art Museum for extra credit, and then went to dinner with a professor afterward. In talking about my house, she asked if I had thought about historic preservation. Lightbulb.
- I start talking about my interest in historic preservation to my parent's friend, a former history teacher who, with his wife, owned our house for 30 years till we bought it. He says he docents at Campbell House Museum and I should come over.
- I go into Campbell House and fall in love. He gets me a summer internship here. T hat leads to 3 summers here, my interest in museum studies, and a 2 year long internship through UMSL's museum studies program that has showed me a love for museum education.

Connections -
1. I discovered right after I had gotten into UMSL that the Nelson Atkins Art Museum in Kansas City, where I went on the field trip that led to the dinner that started me on this path, is about a block away from both Campbell St. and Charlotte St. Those two streets are named for Charlotte Campbell. Charlotte Campbell is Robert's niece, the wife of John Campbell, who Robert worked with.

Campbell House and Natchez:
- I did an internship last summer at Natchez National Historical park. I loved it. I plan to go back there.
- There is a job open at Rosalie mansion in Natchez as manager, where you actually live behind the antebellum mansion in an original dependency/studio apartment above the kitchen. I've applied for it and have good connections down there.

Connections -
1. Horace Bixby, who built my parents house, taught Mark Twain to be a steamboat pilot. Once Twain got his license, he was hired by Robert Campbell's steamboat business.
- Both Bixby and Twain would have piloted ships past Natchez and probably stopped there. Twain talks about Natchez-under-the-hill in Life on the Mississippi, same book he talks about Bixby in.
- Rosalie overlooks the Mississippi River, the same river Twain and Bixby would have been piloting their boats on
- There's a church in Natchez that shows a collection of pictures of Natchez. It includes a ton of pictures of the Anchor Line, the line that Bixby was co-owner of for a while. They include interior pictures of Bixby's boats. Pictures we never would've known existed had I not gone to Natchez.

IF I get the job at Rosalie:
1. President Grant was a friend of Robert Campbell's. He actually came to visit Campbell 2x, once when Virginia Campbell hosted him by herself. Once when they had a huge party for him which included James Eads, Henry Shaw, and General Sherman.
- When Grant took Vicksburg, he set up his HQ in Natchez. He picked Rosalie as his HQ, because it overlooks the river.

There are connections with church and my house but I don't think that's so much someone guiding me as St. Louis and Lafayette Square funniness. The other connection is to Galveston, where there's a job open, but it's more that I loved playing there as a kid, my cousin moved there a few years ago, and now there's a job open - that could easily be coincidence, cause there are LOTS of people who love living in Galveston.

Anyway, my point is, look at all these connections. I know there are people who would say, well it's all just coincidence. But to me, I just feel like when you look at it all, you can't say life is completely random. I feel like all these things prove that there is someone or something up there guiding me and us. Now I'm not trying to prove who or what that is cause that's a whole can of worms that I won't get into. I think it's God, you may not, whatever. Point is there are just way too many connections for this and life to be completely random. Agree? Disagree? Your thoughts?

Easter Weekend

2010-04-05T13:48:00.000-07:00

I don't have too much to say. Just wanted to say hope everyone had a great Easter weekend! I know I did.

Friday night I went out with my old church youth group. It was fun.

Saturday was a CRAZY freaking day. I had to work at Campbell House. I knew that since it was the day before Easter, it'd either be completely dead or pretty busy, but I thought pretty busy would still give me time to eat and read at least a few pages. Silly me. Silly silly silly me. From the time I opened the front gate at the stroke of 10 and found people waiting for me until I was finally able to close the museum at 4:30, 1/2 an hour after it was supposed to close, I did not stop. Literally. I had about 2 minutes difference between tour shifts, where I said "Hi" to the woman in the gift shop and put my lunch in the microwave. I had JUST gotten it out and was grabbing a fork when the door rings again. We had 20 people come through the museum. 20 PEOPLE. Now this may not sound like much. But they didn't all come in at once. It was one or two or three trickling in all day. And I was the only docent. So what it boils down to is that I was only my feet, walking around the museum, giving tours, and TALKING for 6 HOURS STRAIGHT. I was EXHAUSTED. I finally got to eat something with my dad afterwards. Then I watched the Butler game and read.

Sunday I went to church - LPUMC. It was nice. Then I had lunch with my fam. Then I read. All day. And wrote questions.

Today I slept in till 12:30. It was absolutely GLORIOUS.

There is something going on in my life. But I don't want to post it on here. Basically there's a job that I would really really love to have. And due to my connections I think I have a good shot at it. I've talked to someone about it and sent in my resume and am getting the official application and stuff. But nothing is even CLOSE to being set in stone. It's just a possible good shot right now that I would really love to have but nothing is for sure by any means. So just be praying and keep your fingers crossed for that and any situation I apply to.

Finally, HAPPY EASTER!

I get by with a little help from my friends

2010-04-01T22:12:00.001-07:00

Found out this week that at least a couple people actually read this blog. Cool. Hi peeps!

I've been thinking about this blog post all evening. Ok not all evening. But a little while at least. What to say, what not to say, etc. Don't worry nothing bad I promise! It's just that there's something that is going on that I want to talk about and it could be really good but I don't want to get my hopes up and writing it out I could get mine and whoever reads this blogs hopes up, and I don't want to jinx my chances by getting my hopes up or writing it on here. So for now I'll just say keep your fingers crossed for me. And if you really want to know what I'm talking about, just ask me. I'll be happy to tell you in person. I just don't want to write it here.

I've been on a roller coaster of emotions this week. I won't go into what all caused it. Instead I'll just say that I could not have gotten through the highs and the lows of the week without my friends. The old "I get by with a little help from my friends" really does apply here. So I'm just gonna use this time to say thanks.

To friends who go out for a girls night after getting dumped and still celelbrate my possibly good news and my other friend's good love life. Friends who let me be one of the first to meet their boyfriend. Friends who help me with looking for something that I don't know if I want to do but might be one of my only options. Friends who go to Soupman with me and talk about slaves (it's in relation to Campbell House Museum - that was one of the lows, I put together a 14 page file of Campbell letters on slaves... it's emotionally draining to read about...). Friends who go out of their way to offer a helping hand when they don't really have to, thus reassuring me that I am on the right track. Friends that can take me from talking about crucifixion and injustice to laughing about wisdom teeth stories. Friends who push me to be the best I can and reassure me that I can handle stuff and rejoice in the even slim possibility of a potential joy with me. Friends that fill in for me at the last minute when I space on serving communion on Sunday. Friends that always know what I need and how to make me feel better (this is both humans and pets like Bixby). Friends who I haven't seen in a while and set up going out on Good Friday. And most of all - friends who aren't afraid to lay it on the line and hit me upside the head (not literally) even though I didn't ask but because they knew I desperately needed it.

So to all those friends and more... thank you.

My life

2010-03-24T10:24:00.000-07:00

Alright peeps. Here's the latest update on my life.

First off, I am not importing these posts to Facebook, at least for a little while. There have been several things on here that I haven't wanted on facebook that got on there accidentally so I'm not taking any more chances. In fact, this is one of those posts (though it's not too bad).

So first off, job search. I accepted Natchez. Yes I'm still looking for a full time job. But I'm THRILLED about the opportunity at Natchez.

Connecticut turned me down. That one actually hurt more than Michigan, because that job description was freaking WRITTEN for me. But I knew i hadn't gotten it - I'd applied in January and still hadn't heard, I got cut. Oh well their loss right? But here's the kicker. I got the "Thanks but no thanks" letter from them. But in that letter, they actually TOLD ME who the candidate was. Who does that?? First off, it made me go "Oh thanks, rub it in that they have something I don't, as if I didn't know". Second, I was like "You know, that's kinda scary - for all they know, I could be a crazy person, and now that I know who got the job, I could go stalk them and kill them and, at least in my mind, get the job". Now don't worry I'm not actually gonna do that. Cause I am not, in fact, a crazy person. But still... technically it could happen... Lastly, it'd be one thing if I had gotten an interview, gone through all the steps, and they told me who the other candidate they went with was. But I didn't. I got cut in the first round. This letter with the girl's info was sent to EVERYONE who applied - all 60+ people in the applicant pool. If I had gotten the job, I don't think I'd be comfortable with that. So yeah.

As for the rest of my life, things are pretty crazy. I'm still working on the book. Still working on the portrait gallery. Trying to survive my classes. OH and I'm planning my parents 30th wedding anniversary celebration (this is the main reason I don't want this on facebook - if anyone reads this and talks to them, DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT tell my mom. I want it to be at least a somewhat surprise). It's pretty amazing what can happen. I knew I would be able to figure out how to cover it financially, but I was nervous about how much the cost of planning a party would cut into the cushion I want to have in case I don't have a job in the fall. Then Natchez came along. So not only will I be able to cover Mom and Dad's celebration, BUT I'll still be able to stash away even more than I had thought and be OK should I not have a job in the fall. Isn't it amazing how things can work out like that?

So yeah. Things are good.

Update

2010-03-12T15:46:00.000-08:00

So I don't know that anyone read my blog earlier and saw the post I had written about my life being up in the air, and not in a good George Clooney movie way. I deleted it cause it's not exactly the case anymore.

I got my answer. The full time job I had an interview for last month sent me a thanks but no thanks letter. Apparently I was in a pool of 60 qualified applicants and the whole pool's experience and education exceeded their expectations/requirements... and my app was good enough to get past that initial 20 second glance and get a phone interview. That's pretty darn good, especially when you consider this is a job that I didn't think I had any shot at but wanted to stick my hat in the ring anyway. So I'm pretty proud of myself. I'm doing the right thing and I'm on the right track. I've just gotta get past the phone interview to the face to face, and then the offer...

I'm bummed. But surprisingly enough I'm really OK. Seriously. I'm fine. And I'm not saying that because I'm trying to convince myself it's true. I'm saying it cause I'm in shock that it IS true. I thought I'd be really upset with a rejection. But instead I'm just like "Hm. Bummer. Ok whatever."

I think part of it is the fact that I heard from Natchez. Not only have they offered for me to come back for the summer, but they gave me a raise! I won't say how much but it's a really REALLY nice offer. AND my friends from last summer are coming back! AND I already have friends down there! AND I don't have to go through the waiting period of a background check this summer, which took seriously half of my time last summer - 5 weeks, cause it's good for 3-5 years, I can just start when I get down there. Granted it's not a permanent solution. But heck I am not gonna get a better offer on an internship than this! So yeah I'm happy!

So I decided to accept Natchez. Doesn't mean I'm giving up applying for full time jobs. Still looking. Still hoping. But I can't put off a decision on Natchez and more than likely I'm not gonna find a job right after graduation at this point, so better to have something lined up.

So that's my life. I'm pretty good with it.

How are you?

Oscar winners

2010-03-11T09:49:00.000-08:00

Alright the much promised and maybe not so anticipated post on the Oscar winners is here!

So the Oscars turned out pretty much how I expected. Here are my thoughts on the winners.

Best Supporting Actor - Christoph Waltz
I haven't seen Inglorious Basterds. Well I take that back. I've seen the first few minutes of the first scene. Just up to the point where you see someone hiding under the floor. That's it. Yes I know. I need to see it. Apparently he's amazing in it. He's good in those few minutes. So I'm OK with this.

Best Supporting Actress - Mo'Nique
I'm TOTALLY happy about this! I wasn't a big fan of Precious to be honest. I thought Gabourey Sidibe had her moments of good. But overall I thought the movie was way too depressing and kinda slow. However, that's not true of Mo'Nique. She absolutely MADE that movie. She's a total monster in it but she's FABULOUS. There is definitely no one else that could have played Mary Jones like she did. I say well done baby!

Best Actor - Jeff Bridges
Yeah no surprise. I haven't seen Crazy Heart, at least not more than the first few minutes, but everyone says he's awesome. Friends have said he really does do a fabulous job portraying an alcoholic. So I guess I say he deserved it. Personally I was rooting for Morgan Freeman, who serious WAS Nelson Mandela, or George Clooney who was awesome in Up in the Air. I guess I have to see Crazy Heart to really judge Bridges.

Best Actress - Sandra Bullock.
Hmmm. I dunno. I saw the Blind Side and she's GOOD. I'm not saying she did a horrible job. She was really good in the role. But I don't think she really deserved an Oscar for it, at least not with her competition. I don't know. I just felt like another actresses could have played the role and still done a good job, whereas there were other actresses in the category who you couldn't say that about. Gabourey Sidibe, for example - she may not have been awesome the WHOLE time in Precious but she had her moments and I still say no one else could have played the role the way she did. There were also 2 actresses who truly MADE their movies. Carey Mulligan in An Education - NO ONE else could have played that role, and the movie would not have been as good without her. And of course, Meryl Streep - are you kidding? That woman seriously WAS Julia Child!! The movie definitely, DEFINITELY would have been terrible without Meryl as Julia, at least in my opinion. So to me, the ones who deserve the Oscar are the ones where you can say "Those actresses MADE that movie and no one else could have played that part", not someone who you say "Wow she was good. But she didn't make the movie. Another actress could have played the part".

That said, I absolutely LOVED Sandra Bullock's speech. It was fabulous. As was her dress.

Best Director - Kathryn Bigelow
WOOHOO! I was excited she won. She did a great job directing The Hurt Locker. Plus, Barbara, a former nominee, got to give it to the first woman to ever win Best Director. But here's why I loved it so much. She was sitting right in front of her ex-husband James Cameron. I don't care that their friends. I kept waiting for her to turn around to him and go "SUCK IT" or at the very least get up there and go "I"M QUEEN OF THE WORLD!"

Although it would've been funny to see what James Cameron would do to top "I"m King of the World" in his speech. My bet - "I'm King of ANOTHER World!"

Best Picture - The Hurt Locker
You know I'm really and truly ok/happy with this. I loved Avatar. I thought Avatar was amazing. But The Hurt Locker is a pretty fabulous movie. And it really sticks with you and makes you think. Plus it's nice to see a small movie win over gigantic stuff.

Not to mention I LOVED when the cast got up there and the guys were jumping on each other. So cute :-)

That's my thoughts on the Oscar winners. What do you think?

Phantom??

2010-03-10T10:28:00.000-08:00

OK I promise I'll post my thoughts on the Oscar winners at some point. But after last night I felt compelled to blog about this.

As most of you (maybe all though maybe not) probably know, I'm a BIG musical theater fan. I blame Emily - she's done theater since she was 5, I was the younger sister who had to be just like her older sister, so I did too. I LOVE musicals. I love Rent. I love Les Miz. I love Wicked. I love Hairspray. I love A New Brain. I love Legally Blonde: The Musical. I love Altar Boyz. I love Mary Poppins. I love Pump Boys and Dinettes. I love Spamalot and Avenue Q. The list goes on and on and on! One of my favorites is definitely Phantom of the Opera. It's a classic. SUCH beautiful music (I ADORE All I Ask of You and am still jealous that Emily had it at her wedding cause now I may not be able to use it). Wonderful story. Beautiful dancing at parts. Just... awesome. And the way it ends is sad and yet right and good and just... I don't even know what to say besides well done Andrew Lloyd Webber!

Well now the sequel craze has apparently hit Broadway. Andrew Lloyd Webber has written a sequel to Phantom of the Opera. It's called Love Never Dies. Now upon first hearing about it, I thought ick but then OOOH maybe we'll finally find out what happens after the Phantom disappears! But then I rad the plot on Wikipedia. Here's a cliffs notes version. I'll try not to spoil the ending -

It's 10 years after Phantom of the Opera. Madame Giry and Meg, who has gone from Christine's sweet little ballet dancer friend who sings the "Where in the world have you been hiding" part in Angel of Music to a slutty can can dancer called the "Ooh La La girl", work at Phantasma in CONEY ISLAND, run by Mr. Y. Mr. Y is the Phantom. Meg wants the Phantom to notice her every time she sluts it up on stage. He doesn't because he's still in love with Christine. He invites Christine and her family to Coney Island so Christine can sing. They show up, Christine and Raoul now have a 10 year old son, Gustave. Raoul is a drunk. Christine and the Phantom meet again and recall a night, just before Christine's wedding to the man the Phantom sent her off with, when they thought they could be together... and were... bam chicka wah wah... Could the Phantom actually be the father of Christine's son??? The Phantom shows up as a bartender to a schwasted Raoul and bets him that Christine will sing, and if she does then Raoul has to leave, but if she doesn't then the Phantom will pay off all of Raoul's debts (gathered from Raoul always getting schwasted). Will she sing? Won't she? Will Meg's insane jealousy separate the two lovers once again? Find out in... LOVE NEVER DIES.

I'm sorry. This is not Phantom. This is a SOAP OPERA. And that's pretty sad, considering it's coming from someone who has been addicted to soaps since kindergarten.

Now admittedly I have not seen the show. It could be really good. But the plot just makes me go "Seriously?" Plus I heard some of the music on youtube - "Till I hear you sing" and "Love never dies". It's pretty. I'm still wanting to hear Meg's song "Bathing Beauty" which is apparently a big belter Vaudeville number. But from what I've heard, the songs are no "Phantom of the Opera" or "Music of the Night" or "All I ask of you" or "Past the point of no return" or even the simple "Angel of Music"! Also, apparently the climactic aria "Love Never Dies" is a RECYCLED melody. Come on Andrew, let's be original!

Anyway that's my rant. The end.

In other news, Nantucket said no. That's OK. Still waiting on others. Still applying. Here's hoping for something.

I promise I'll post my thoughts on Oscar winners soon

The Oscars - Worst dressed

2010-03-08T17:54:00.000-08:00

So I covered the best dressed. Now these are the ones that weren't quite so hott, from those that just missed the mark to the ones that made me go WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?

The first 9 are in no particular order, last 3 are. I'm going to be pretty harsh in this post. But they opened themselves up to it. Bear with me it's all in good fun.

- Carey Mulligan

I REALLY hate putting this girl on here cause I absolutely adore her. She's FABULOUS in an education. I love her short blonde hair (hmm I wonder why) and I just think she's great. But this dress just doesn't do it for me. I think it'd be beautiful if it went all the way to the floor, but the way it comes up and stops doesn't look right. now I love the top of the dress, and her short hair with the long, HOT earrings is awesome. But that bottom coming up is just... weird... My mom and I disagree on this. She loved it, I'm not a fan.

- Miley Cyrus

Another one that just misses the mark. At first glance I loved this dress. It is very age appropriate and with a few changes it would really make her look like a princess. But upon closer inspection I wasn't a fan. The bust line is too low for her, so she looks like she's constantly slouching. That just ruins it for me.

- Kate Winslet

This whole outfit ends up as a mismatch of wrong. The top looks like it SHOULD be separate from the bottom like that weird pink prom dress the girl wears in 10 things I hate about you, but it's all one piece, which makes it weird. I think if it transitioned at the hips better it'd be much better. The color isn't that great on Kate Winslet either. Plus she's wearing GOLD JEWELRY with a silver dress - big no no!

- Elinor Burkett, or "Lady Kanye" as she's now being called

I'm sorry. Since when is it OK to wear a MOO-MOO to the Academy Awards?!?! This pic doesn't show it all but trust me - it was a moo-moo. Not to mention that it is NEVER OK to interrupt someone's speech, even if you did produce the movie. Did we learn NOTHING from Kanye West people?

- Jennifer Lopez

Well as long as we're wearing moo-moos, why not just cover ourselves in BUBBLE WRAP for the oscars? Cause that's exactly what JLO looks like. On the red carpet, in the sun, the fabric didn't look so bad. But she got on stage and we realized it seriously looks like BUBBLE WRAP. Plus there's just WAY too much of it. If it had stopped on the side it would've been fun but this things like the energizer bunny - it just keeps going and going and going...

- Vera Farmiga

Yet another energizer bunny dress... OK I love her in Up in the Air (even though I was sad with the twist cause it involved the house of two good friends of my family...). But what is this dress? I get that ruffles are in but at some point you've got to know when to STOP. It wouldn't be so bad if the top was straight or just detailed and the bottom was like that, ala Demi Moore or Elizabeth Banks. But all together? As Elizabeth Hasselbeck said, it's like mitochondria all over her!

- Diane Kruger

Another dress that WOULD be gorgeous if they had just stopped. If it was just a high necked all 1 fabric type thing, maybe with 1 line across it, it'd be at least OK if not beautiful. But this thing just has way too much going on, it's like they couldn't decide which design to use! Not to mention it really cuts her into 3 pieces in a very unflattering way, and makes her butt look big with all the ruffles on it. Not your best Diane.

- Barbara Streisand

This was definitely not a "Hello gorgeous" night for Barbara. I absolutely love that she got to present Best Director to Kathryn Bigelow, the 1st female director to win an Oscar, since Barbara was nominated for Prince of Tides (thank you SNL's coffee talk for teaching me that). But this outfit, which you can't get the full effect of in this pic so just trust me, was so bad. I like the mens wear look. But this was just too casual and not good. Oh Babs. Maybe some of the "people" that you need are new stylists.

- Charlize Theron

God there were SO many dresses that would be beautiful if not for just a few things - this is another example. The dress' cut and color is gorgeous. But what's up with the roses right over her boobs?? As my friend's mom said, "Is she lactating?"

And now the 3 worst of the night, in my opinion:
3. Faith Hill

I didn't even see this one on the red carpet until the best and worst dressed lists
today. And you don't get the full hideousness in this pic. It's so bad! She looks like a goth prom queen! Honey you are going to the Oscars, where the movie you're hubby's in is up for Best Picture - this is not OK! Oh Mississippi girl, you could've done so much better.

2. Zoe Saldana

The random sparkles down to bright purple is bad enough. But then the star of Avatar had to skin a muppet in order to make her dress. LEAVE THE MUPPETS ALONE! Seriously though... this dress is just... wrong...

And the worst dressed of the night... drumroll please...

1. SARAH JESSICA PARKER

Oh SJP! Honey what were you thinking! I love her, I adore Sex and the City, but Carrie Bradshaw would be so disappointed. I get that she was trying to go for the grecian look. And I guess the dress is pretty cool in the back. But from the front it looks like a giant yellow bag, or a pillow case. And her makeup is terrible. I applaud Sarah Jessica Parker for not getting plastic surgery and instead aging gracefully. I think she was incredibly courageous in the first Sex and the City movie to be shown without any makeup on at all at one point. I also realize she has 3kids and is in her 40s. But she looks TIRED. ON OSCAR NIGHT. Not acceptable. Then there's the hair - it's bigger than her head! And you made millions from Sex and the City, plus your husband's Matthew Broderick - couldn't you afford to buy some hairspray so you wouldn't have fly aways on the red carpet? Overall this was just terrible in my opinion. This to me was the worst of the night.

Here's a shocker - my mom LOVED that dress. What can you do?

Honorable mention - Sigourney Weaver (I left her off cause a guy stepped on her dress. There's no point in adding to the shame). Antonio Banderas - Antonio you used to be so sexy, couldn't you SHAVE for the Oscars? Amanda Seyfried - another bubble wrap number. And Molly Ringwald - not a total disaster but bad.

My thoughts on the winners later!

The oscars - best dressed

2010-03-08T09:50:00.000-08:00

Hey peeps! I'm back. Things are still crazy. I'm still looking for a job. But everything'll work out in the end.

But that's not what I"m talking about in this post. This post is about my take on the Oscars! I'm doing 3 posts about this - best dressed, worst dressed, and my thoughts on the winners. This is best dressed. I picked a bunch of looks I liked a lot,and then 1 that I think was the best of the night.

These are in no particular order:

- Kristen Stewart

She looks GORGEOUS. Though in this shot she needs to stop slouching. And she could definiely use some more makeup and a nice necklace - see Mariska Hargitay for an example (she was beautiful but I think Kristen takes it before her personally) http://justjared.buzznet.com/2010/03/07/mariska-hargitay-oscars-2010-red-carpet/.

- Sandra Bullock

When I first saw this dress on the red carpet, the shadow made it look way more see through than it is and I thought you could see her bra, causing me to go "Oh Sandra,what were you thinking!!" But it grew on me over the night and when she won (which I'll talk about later) I liked it. I had even gotten used to the pink lipstick.

- Maggie Gyllenhaal

Speaking of bright pink lipstick... but overall I have to say WELL DONE MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL. She took a risk and pulled it off beautifully, I love it.

- Anna Kendrick

You know a lot of people are putting her on the worst dresesed list. But I think this little girl (who did a FAN-flipping-TASTIC job in Up in the Air) looks GORGEOUS, especially when you compare it to costar Vera Farmiga's ruffled disaster. Plus I read she was gonna wear a blue dress and changed her mind at the last minute, not sure if she just wanted to wear something else or if something happened to the other dress. But I think she looks great.

- Queen Latifah

This isn't a very good shot of the dress. But I thought Queen Latifah looked classy and fabulous. She showed off her curves without looking big. I loved it.

- Helen Mirren

From one Queen to another. Helen Mirren looks AWESOME. She looks age appropriate without looking frumpy (which some of my friends accused Meryl Streep of looking, see below). She really shines and just looks fabulous.

- Gabourey Sidibe

I'm sorry, but how cute is she? She's got so much spunk and sass and looks awesome. Plus considering she skipped school to try out for Precious on a whim, got the part, and was up against MERYL FREAKING STREEP, who has inspired musical numbers (think of Meryl Streep in Fame), for an Oscar... that's pretty awesome. I love that she just loves herself so much, especially when you contrast who she is with her character. She just looks so happy and awesome.

- Meryl Streep

The woman/icon herself. My friends and I were divided on this. Some hated it. Some thought it could have been better. I liked it personally. It's not my favorite. There are different things that could've been better (having it be more of a true wrap for instance). But it's certainly not as bad as some of the others out there, especially on more experienced actresses (cough SJP cough cough). And considering her age (sorry Meryl but it's true) I say well done. Now she's no Helen Mirren on this night but I still think she looked awesome.

- Rachel McAdams

This one didn't get much recognition, and the shot's not that good of her cause she looks like she's sticking her gut out here, but I think she just looks AWESOME. The pattern is nice without being overpowering, it's got some color (what was with all the nude dresses?) and she just looks fabulous

- Tina Fey

At first I thought the dress was leopard print. But like Sandra Bullocks, it grew on me and by the end of the night I loved it. I think Tina looks great. And FINALLY a non poofy dress!

- Kathryn Bigelow

The woman of the night! Speaking of non poofy dresses. I LOVE this dress. However, she does look kinda uncomfortable in it - maybe she was too tightly taped into the thing.

- Elizabeth Banks

Again not a very good shot. But I loved this dress. And if you're gonna do ruffles, THIS is the way to do it.

- Penelope Cruz

First presenter of the night, and in my opinion she wowed. I loved this dress. It was a GREAT pop of color. And while I wasn't sure about the a-symmetrical neckline at first, I think she just looks great overall. Shot's not too good cause the bottom looks wrinkled in it, but I like it.

And my number 1 pick. Drumroll please...

1. DEMI MOORE

Oh man. What can you say. GORGEOUS. PERFECTION. Now if you're gonna do the 30s style with the big slit and all the ruffles that seemed so popular YOU DO IT LIKE THIS (Zoe Saldana PLEASE TAKE NOTES). Some detail at the top, lots of stuff at the bottom without being too much. A great color - one of the few nude dresses I really liked. Just AWESOME. WAY TO GO DEMI!

Honorable mention - Monique. I felt I just had to cut the list off somewhere so she didn't make it. But the woman did look fabulous! Another honorable mention is the girl in yellow that was escorting everyone off stage.

That's my thoughts on the best dressed at the oscars. Agree? Disagree? I'll post worst dressed and my thoughts on the winners later. Right now I've gotta get dressed to go shopping with Mom. So for now that's all folks!

Oh life

2010-02-11T11:48:00.000-08:00

So last week was absolutely insane. Seriously. Life was just really complicated and busy and stressful. But it also made me come to terms with a lot of stuff. So it was good.

Last week I seriously had SOMETHING going every single night. Lots of fun. But insane. Plus I had a paper to do and a bunch of books to read. And I've got more books to read this week. Yeah this semester could seriously kick my butt. Hopefully it won't.

I have a phone interview next Wednesday. Internship. We'll see what happens. Still hoping for that full time job. Still applying. Nothing yet.

Mom's shop moved! That's really exciting for our family - Looking Glass Designs is now at 1917 Park Ave, in between The Chocolate Bar and Park Ave. Coffee. Everyone should come and check it out!

I don't know I've just been contemplating a lot. Realizing that the plan that I see for my life (married, fulfilling job I love) and have always thought of as "God's plan" for me may actually not be that. I may never find that "soul mate" or other half, or I might think I find him and it doesn't work out, or heck, I may find him and the relationship is just not "perfect" like I think it will be - in fact I know that won't happen, cause no relationship is ever perfect. I can't keep thinking that the images of my perfect future life I picture in my head are anything but my own twisted mind coming up with them, because when they don't turn out the way I picture I get angry, and that's not right (example - I pictured how Natchez was gonna be. It wasn't exactly like that. I was really disappointed and upset the first few weeks. I can't keep doing that). Look, I may end up single. I may never find that perfect job that I love so much, it may just be a job that I do and am OK with. And I have to be OK with that. I'm not giving up on these ideas of what I want. But I can't let them control me or inspire so much fear in me that they take over my life. And I can't let what others think of me or the fact that I'm not in control of something twist me around either. I'm just finally realizing some stuff and learning to handle them. I'm also starting to learn more about faith. I won't go into all this on here cause it's pretty personal and I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable here. But I just feel like maybe for the first time I get what it's about. And I'm working on connecting that with the things I've messed up and how to deal with it all.

Oh and my exit project (writing the children's book for Campbell House) is getting presented to the executive committee of the board tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed/be praying for this to get approved. Cause I'm in trouble if it's not. But the director and myself both think it'll be fine. Speaking of the project, I've met the illustrator and she's AWESOME. We're on the same page on the project. I think we'll get along great!

And in other news THE SAINTS WON THE SUPER BOWL! I was pretty happy about that, cause I love New Orleans. Sorry Colts fans. WHO DAT!

Alright that's enough deep thoughts from me. So how are you?

stupid cover letters

2010-01-29T18:35:00.001-08:00

So I had applied for a job in the education department of a museum. I get an e-mail today saying "Here's the job description, send us the specifics of how you fit it, if we don't hear from you by 10:00 EST (9:00 central) by tomorrow we'll assume you're not interested". Essentially asking for a 2nd cover letter.

Here's the thing. This job description was the most DETAILED thing I have ever seen in my whole freaking life. It went on for 3 pages. It even said that the person would be required to make coffee for volunteers! Seriously? MAKING COFFEE in the job description?

Anyway since I want a job I knew I had to write a 2nd cover letter. So I just spent the past 2 hours freaking out over what the heck to say. But I finally did it. And I sent it. I don't know that it was any good. The 2nd cover letter might just get me tossed out. Or it could get me an interview, as I was willing to do the work - that may be their way to weed people out, who knows. But by god I addressed everything I could that was in that job description as concisely as I could. All my skills, condensed. Willing to work weekends. Comfortable with dress codes and small spaces. Passed a federal background check (they don't have to know it took 1/2 of my internship this summer to do it, right?) and willing to do another one. I even put in that I have about 10 years of experience making coffee - who knew I'd be grateful for the years of Mom going "Katherine. Go get me a cup of coffee"?

So we'll see what happens. It's out of my hands now. Totally in theirs.

Keep your fingers crossed for this and the 15 (yes you read that right - 15) jobs I'm applying to right now. Well technically 3 aren't till March. And there'll probably be more between now and then. But still, 15 jobs on my radar right now. Keep praying for me and keep your fingers crossed that a full time job comes through.

Job news!

2010-01-23T10:17:00.000-08:00

FABULOUS news - I GOT A JOB OFFER! Before you start freaking out and then saying "Wait, I didn't know you had an interview"... I didn't. And I'm not sure I'm gonna take it.

Explanation - Natchez National Historical Park said that they'd love to have me back for a 2nd summer internship if I wanted it. I'm thrilled! BUT this is not my first choice - my first choice is of course to find an actual full time job with benefits, not just a summer internship. BUT the option is there and I'd definitely take it if a full time job doesn't happen! Plus it's SO nice to have someone say yes!!

Update

2010-01-22T09:27:00.000-08:00

So I'll probably give the answers to the movie quote trivia thing, which never really took off, in a sec. For now here's the latest updates on my life.

Biggest news in the family - Mom's store is moving!! This is not just a good thing, it's a GREAT thing. Before you all start freaking out and going "Where is she going?", don't, we're not going far. Looking Glass Designs is moving about 2 blocks down Park Ave to the old Oliver's Studio space, right in between Park Ave. Coffee and Chocolate Bar. We're right by all the restaurants, lots more traffic and visibililty, TONS more space (she's got 2 floors plus the basement), it's just gonna be awesome. Probably next week we'll do the big move so look for the new space coming soon! I'll give you details as I find them out.

In other news, I may potentially have a lead on a fabulous job. I'm trying not to get my hopes up. And I'm trying not to count my chickens before they hatch. I haven't even gotten an interview yet. But that description was literally written for me. And I have a good feeling. So hopefully. Still applying for others.

School started this week. Lot's of reading. Joy and rapture.

Oh and I have strep. woo hoo. Don't worry I'm fine. And if you see me out and about no I'm no longer contagious, I'm on antibiotics.

That's it.

Movie quote trivia

2010-01-11T09:48:00.000-08:00

Yeah I'm one of those people. I love these games.

Award season is coming up. So in honor of that, I'm gonna see how many movies people have seen this year. Below are quotes from movies. They've all been nominated for some kind of award. You tell me what movie it's from. Extra points if you can tell me the character and who played it. Person with the most points gets a prize! The prize is, drumroll please...

A virtual pat on the back from me! Sorry that's all I can afford. It's just for fun. :-).

1. Shut up and fly straight! Avatar, Sam Worthington as Jake Sully, Karen (PS - this was totally my fav line in the movie, no idea why)

2. She has a really scary tattoo

3. It is a human calculation

4. Beneath this pillow lies the key to my release: Sherlock Holmes, Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes, Lisa

5. Go to bed! Ya'll from Shreveport?

6. Well if we've only got 3 days...

7. I want you to have a good time, but if you get a girl pregnant out of wedlock, I will crawl into the car, drive up to Oxford, and cut off your penis The Blind Side, Sandra Bullock as Leigh Ann Tuohy, Karen

8. I'm like my mother. I stereotype. It's faster. Up in the Air, George Clooney as Ryan Bingham, Lisa

9. I call it the baby maker. The Proposal, Betty White as Grammy, Amanda

And last but not least (please know that I just picked this quote because it's hilarious)

10. These... things are as hot as a stiff cock! (I only took out 1 word, a cuss word. I KNOW I KNOW THAT LAST ONE IS DIRTY, BUT I HEARD IT AND JUST CRACKED UP!)

So there ya go. All award contenders for the Golden Globes next week. Some likely up for Oscars. I've seen all of them, though not al in the theaters. What movies are they from?

Jobs jobs jobs

2010-01-08T13:32:00.000-08:00

I'm applying for jobs. That's my life. For now.

Mom's hoping to move her shop. She's trying to get the space where Oliver's Studio was, between Chocolate Bar and Park Ave. Coffee. Right now she's trying to decide whether she wants the whole thing or just part of it and dealing with a landlord who's playing hardball and the fact that both Chocolate Bar and Park Ave. want the 1st floor. Keep your fingers crossed/pray that she gets it, cause it'd be really great for her business!

School starts soon. I only have 1 class that I have to attend regularly which is nice. I'm doing an internet course and then have my exit project class which is, drumroll please... doing my exit project... so this semester SHOULD be a little easier, though I'm taking a labor and law class and a foreign policy class so it could also kick my butt. We shall see.

It snowed here yesterday and I got the day off! I lounged around ALL day. It was glorious.

That's my life. Thanks for listening.

Happy new year!

2010-01-04T11:29:00.000-08:00

Welcome to 2010 everybody!! It's a new decade. In honor of that I"m gonna do what Jesse and Jon did and go through where I was the past 10 years cause a lot's changed.

2000 - I started high school. Had to find a whole new group of friends after 8th grade (long story). Threw myself into forensics and debate. Also threw myself into journalism and got an assistant editor position on the newspaper.

2001 - I was in geometry class when the planes hit the towers. I remember the teacher working on a laminate and doing something with triangles (no idea what the math principle was but I know it had to do with triangles) when Dr. Powers came over the loudspeaker and told us what had happened. The teacher said "This doesn't seem that important now" and we just watched the news the rest of the day.

2001 - My family moved into this old house in Lafayette Square. It was built by Horace Bixby who taught Mark Twain to be a steamboat pilot. I thought the house and history were super cool but I had no idea how much it would change my life.

2002 - I started school at St. Elizabeth Academy. I can still remember being in the office and having Thelma and Maria come in and introduce themselves, only to find out they were in my homeroom. Also in my homeroom was a girl that would become my best friend and my sister, Meagan.

2003 - I went to London and Ireland with Meagan and girls from SEA. That's also when Mom told me about a program called Oxbridge at William Jewell College.

2003 - I had an interview from Oxbridge and was convinced I bombed it.

2004 - I got into Oxbridge. I graduated from high school. I started college at Jewell. I joined ADPi. I had a revelation when I was at Red Lobster with Dr. Reynolds after going to the Nelson-Atkins Art Museum, cause she said "have you thought about going into Historic Preservation?". Mentioned that to a friend at church and he took me to Campbell House. And my sister got married. It was a big year for me.

2005 - I did my first summer internship at Campbell house, reading 300 personal letters of the family. From that day on I was hooked. I was also FRC for ADPi. Yeah... well I did get a diamond sister out of the deal :-)

2006 - I finished my sophomore year and said bye to my sisters. Got the Oxbridge research grant and spent my summer going through the huge 1938 estate case. Then I went to England. Fell in love with the Warners. Loved Oxford. Went to Germany. Came home for Christmas. Had the best New Years Eve of my life thus far in Scotland.

2007 - I went back to England for 2 more terms and spent 5 weeks traveling around Europe. I definitely got homesick and there are things now I wish I had done over there or that I wish I hadn't but man I wouldn't trade my year in Oxford for ANYTHING. Mom and Dad came to visit and I got to take them to King Lear at the RSC... where upon Ian McKellan getting naked Mom leans over to me and says "That's the biggest schlong I've ever seen". yep. that's my mom. After England I did another summer at CHM.

2008 - I applied for grad school. Had an interview with Jay Rounds and loved the museum studies program. Got into UMSL's museum studies program and got an internship at CHM. I graduated college and said bye to ADPi. I moved into my apartment. Cassie and I became roommates. I worked at Steinmart for the summer. I started grad school. I met my cohort. I found my passion for museum education. I got close to my sister and she went through some hard times as well as her friends in Rolla that summer. Plus Mom opened her shop. Another busy year.

2009 - I went to Philadelphia for AAM and loved the city. I spent the summer in Natchez. I developed an amazing exit project. I found an amazing church. I started applying for jobs. Emily got engaged to the WONDERFUL WONDERFUL Luke.

Hard to believe it's just been 10 years since my grandpa died and everything I listed here started. What a crazy decade it's been.

Here's to 2010 and the next 10 years of our lives!

Insanity

2010-01-04T11:18:00.001-08:00

Life has been insane over the past few weeks. Not even kidding you. Here's been my schedule:

Friday December 18 -
Got my hair cut (it's adorable). Met up with a friend from 2 summers ago. Fun. Crazy. Interesting to say the least.

Saturday December 19 -
Worked for a few hours at Eugene Field House before Kim let us go early. I then cleaned the apartment and Cassie and I had our old youth group over. It was SO fun. Except for the appearance of our mouse, who Alex has named Frank (he claims no one likes the name Frank). Little bugger came out 3 times!! Luckily our guest saw him and not me, cause I would've freaked. I'd already seen him 1x and that was enough! There haven't been any more sightings so hopefully he's gone.

Sunday December 20 -
I was in my parents kitchen, tripped on the step down, maybe over my own feet or the dog or my heel, I don't know. Anyway, knocked my knee out of place for a sec. It was just out and then right back in but man it hurt like a beast. I spent the next 3 days hoping it would stop being stiff!

Thursday December 24 -
Went to Christmas Eve service at City Church, which was wonderful. Helped Mom and Dad clean and wrap presents. Em and LUke came in town. Then we all went to Christmas Eve service at LPUMC.

Friday December 25 -
CHRISTMAS! I had a wonderful Christmas. Got everything I wanted and more (Sony Ereader? Ipod Nano? HECK YEAH!). Everyone loved the presents I gave them. Then we went and saw Up in the Air. It was good, and fun to see St. Louis and Dave and Dave's house in Lafayette Square (even if it was a bad scene) but a slightly depressing movie too.

Saturday December 26 -
We packed up and started the caravan to Texas.

Sunday December 27 -
We made it to Houston, saw Aunt Rita, and then got to see Luke and Hudson, my cousin Suzie and Brandon's 3 month old twins! THOSE BABIES ARE SO SWEET!!!!!!

Monday December 28-Wednesday December 30 -
We were in Houston, seeing family and old friends. Em and Luke headed back Tuesday cause they had to take care of their dogs.

Thursday December 31 -
We had spent the night in Rosebud, TX, where my grandma's house is. Went and saw her in the nursing home. Saw my uncle. Had Casa Ole and saw Sherlock Holmes (it's good, Jude Law is WONDERFUL, but I had trouble understanding Robert Downey Jr.). Then we went back to Mimi's and watched the ball drop. We ate pie and summer sausage and I fell asleep soon after.

Friday January 1 -
We trekked home, 14 hours in the car.

Saturday January 2 -
I did nothing. Literally. I read ebooks. I watched Dr. Who. I watched Avatar on my computer (WONDERFUL movie, I bet that takes everything as it should, except the version I saw had the Navi language subtitled in Greek so I don't know what they were saying at parts). I did pay my rent. But otherwise nothing. It was GLORIOUS.

Sunday January 3 -
Went to church. Put clothes away. Learned about my ereader. Watched brothers and sisters. Awesome.

Monday January 4 -
I'm back at work. Fianlly checked e-mail and caught up on stuff.

See how crazy it's been? And this isn't even detailing all the stuff we did in TX. It's insane.

But then when is my life not?

Update

2009-12-11T12:33:00.000-08:00

I just updated my professional blog, katherineinmuseums.blogspot.com. It just updates you on the projects I'm working on. The Urban Museum Collaborative got the supplemental grant they've been wanting, which is WONDERFUL! I'm still working on the portrait gallery, 7 out of 15 write ups are done but I have to edit those 7 a LOT. I turned in my exit project proposal this week, BIG weight off my shoulders there. I'm really excited about this project - I'm creating a children's book that tells the story of Campbell House, then doing a story time education program to go with it (so anyone that has kids, be ready to get an invite to the 1st one in May :-) ). Plus Dr. Lankford says he thinks he found me an illustrator for the project! YAY! I still have to talk to her, but keep your fingers crossed it works, cause I can't draw at all and while I could always just photoshop the 1885 photographs I really wanted good illustrations that truly bring the house to life. Hopefully it'll work!

Other updates - I had my last class last night! WOOHOO! I felt good when Jay was talking about stuff cuase I felt like he finally explained where he'd been trying to get us to go for the past year and a half... and like I understood it... always a good thing. Afterwards my cohort went out to Schlafly bottleworks. It was definitely a bittersweet moment. On the one hand I had SO much fun with everybody and am SO SO SO glad the semester is over, cause I can have time to think again. But on the other hand, that was my last class with Jay - we don't have him next semester. It's also my last class with eveyrone in my cohort - with the directed readings and internet course next semester, I won't see anybody in class. I can't believe it's been a year and a half since we started, it's flown by, but I also feel like I've known this group of people forever. I'm really gonna miss seeing them all the time... which means we HAVE to get together out of class!

I was thinking about it at lunch and it absolutely amazes me how much life can change in a year. Think about it. This time last year:
- I went down to Shreveport to see Emily in Rabbit Hole. 1st time we'd been down and her ex wasn't there. I went to her church and said "I want a place like that, where I go in and everyone says "Hey Katherine! I saw..."
- I had no clue about the AAM conference, had never been to Philadelphia, and hadn't even thought about doing an internship in Natchez
- No clue what I was gonna do for an exit project
- Felt close to my cohort but was still feeling really lonely

Now:
- Emily's engaged
- I've found an amazing church
- I'm looking for jobs
- I had a great experience with the national park service in Natchez
- I loved AAM and fell in love with Philly
- I've got a wonderful exit project and a 2nd project that's so great
- I have wonderful friends, I'm even clsoer with the people in my cohort, and am no logner lonely (well most of the time)

Wow. And that's just part of it. If you know me, you'll be able to see how much I"ve changed over the past 2 years, and especially the past year. Thank you to everyoen that was a part of that.

Oh and speaking of conferences, I'm not gonna go to AAM this year. It's in LA. That's super expensive, both hotel and air fare wise. No one else is going for me to share a hotel room with. I don't really care that much about the museums in LA. I don't want to be out there, and most of the people will probably be on the west coast. There's just nothign that says "Oh I HAVE to go to that", and there were SO many things about Philly that said that last year. Same with most conferences I've found - the interesting ones aren't till later, all the upcoming ones are ones that make me say "Eh". I dont' want to pay bucu bucks for "eh". But there is a historic house museum conference in Texas in November 2010, so if I don't have a job by then (which hopefully I will) I"ll probably go to that.

December-January is gonna be my big push on job searching/really start the job search. I'll try to update you on how that goes. KEEP YOUR FINGERS CROSSED!

Oh and I'm now addicted to Dr. Who. I blame the field house for this :-). They were tlaking about it at work. I got curious and watched it. LOVE it!

That's it. Bye now!

I don't get people

2009-12-07T10:11:00.000-08:00

I don't want to say much in this post because I don't feel it's right to air the whole situation on a blog. I will say that this post is not about my family. My family has been amazing through this, absolute ANGELS.

All I'll say is I don't get why some people are so rude. Why they feel the need to be uppity. Why they feel the need to verbally attack someone without even hearing an explanation. Or why they freak out over a tiny little mistake.

People are ridiculous. That's all I can say.

At least it's almost Christmas! I hope you're all having a happy holiday season!

Oh paper trail

2009-12-03T21:25:00.000-08:00

So tonight at Brad and Hannah's, we played a game we have named Paper Trail. It's a combo between telephone and pictionary - we actually played it a few times at Phoneathon to keep us happy on the phones. One person writes a common phrase on a piece of paper. They then hand it to the person next to them, who has to draw the phrase. The drawing is then passed along and the next person has to interpret the picture. The cycle continues like telephone till it gets back to the start.

Here are some of the funny phrases from tonight -

"Shut the front door!" became "All the lights in the house are on"

"Da roof, da roof, da roof is on fire" became "And suddenly, the house was on fire!"

"An apple a day keeps the doctor away" became "During apple season, don't eat too much or you'll end up in the hospital"

"Mama's, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys" became "I don't know if the herd is surrounded"

"Luck of the draw" became "No couple equal to back I have a pair" (hey I wrote what I saw!)

"God rest ye merry gentlemen" became "Dreaming of fairies and horseshoes will drive you crazy" (I drew a cross with an arrow to represent God, a bed with a guy sleeping for rest, a u to represent ye, a fairy plus m for merry, and guys with hats for gentlemen. They had no idea what my cross was, thought I'd crossed out the m, and wrote "Dreaming of fairies and horseshoes makes you crazy")

"No sex in the champagne room" was drawn. I'd never heard that phrase and wrote "We popped the champagne cork on the couch and now we can't sleep" to which I was told "That sounds dirty..."

"Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness" became "A fetus and the statue of liberty make me smile", then "A fetus and the statue of liberty are ecstatic", and SOMEHOW back to "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness"

But here's the BEST one. I was handed "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickle peppers". So I drew a guy smoking a pipe to represent Peter Piper. He had a big hand and was reaching towards what I meant to be peppers. There was also a basket of peppers next to him. Brad thought my peppers were drugs and wrote A COLUMBIAN DRUG SMUGGLER CARRIES A PURSE . The drug smuggler then became Ethiopian. Finally the cards came back as "Just say no". Yep that was definitely my fault. It was HILARIOUS.

Yep I love paper trail. It's awesome.

By the way, I"m gonna take a break from thanks for the memories. I may pick it up later. But I"m kinda done with that series for now.

PS - other people know the phrase "Dance with the one who brung you", right? Because I was handed a drawing tonight and wrote that. Granted, the phrase started as "Do a little dance, make a little love" and became "Prom king and queen", which is what was drawn, so I was wrong anyway. But I wrote that and NO ONE there had heard that phrase before! Is it just a Southern thing, or just a Heugatter thing?

If we shadows have offended

2009-11-29T07:47:00.000-08:00

"Listen
If we shadows have offended, Think but this, and all is mended, That you have but slumber’d here while these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme, No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend: if you pardon, we will mend:
And, as I am an honest Puck, If we have unearned luck, Now to ’scape the serpent’s tongue, We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call;So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends, And Robin shall restore amends."
- William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream (yes I know I didn't put it in the right form but I needed to make it short).

One of my favorite Shakespeare quotes! Why'd I start with this quote? Here's the dealio. So last night I was talking to someone about my recent post about Emily and Luke, which got some attention on facebook. First off, THANK YOU to all who read it, liked it, and commented on it! I was expecting "Wow that's cheesy" responses, especially from my sister, which made her comment even nicer. But just to clarify, while I love the "aww you're so sweet" responses and will take them any day, I wasn't fishing for that. I also didn't mean to reveal any stories that were personal and not supposed to be told. I was just calling things like I saw it, honest. That's what I'm trying to do on this blog, not fishing for "you're awesome Katherine" comments. SO the lucky ones in the story isn't me and my blog, it's my sister and her fiance. That said, if you want to comment on the note, go right ahead :-).

Anyway last night this person made a really good point - technically I have been saying things about people on here without their permission, via the "thanks for the memories" series and the post about Em and Luke. SO if you feel like I have said something about you that you don't want revealed in a blog, I sincerely apologize (seriously, I mean that). Let me know - message me, call me, etc. - and I will take it down, I promise. My intention was not to embarrass anyone or reveal anything personal. I just wanted to say that I was thankful for everyone that's influenced my life. Also, if I have posted something that you think I shouldn't have about myself - something that might hurt a job search or a friendship - let me know and I'll take it into consideration. Keep in mind that if you just disagree with an opinion I post, comment and tell me it, but you may not change your mind. But if I've said something that could hurt my life I appreciate the warning anyone gives me.

Look, like I've said before I'm trying not to turn this blog into a whine-fest, a constant vent, or something to talk about people, ESPECIALLY the ones that mean a lot to me. But this is a personal blog. I guess it's kinda like you guys are getting a peak into my personal diary (though I won't go into detail about some personal stuff). So I'm going to write about my life, what's happening in it, and what I think. Now my writing freedom ends where your nose starts, so if you don't want something out there I wrote, let me know. But otherwise, you kinda gotta grin and bear wtih me - I'm still figuring out this whole blog thing, what works, what doesn't.

So if I've made you uncomfortable with the "Thanks for the memories" stuff, I'm sorry. It's almost over, I promise. If I've made you uncomfortable iwth something else, I'm sorry. But hopefully it helps you understand me a little better.

Crazy life... what can I say...

2009-11-28T18:08:00.000-08:00

Thanks for the memories

2009-11-28T15:03:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I know I did.

Thanks for the memories -
I'm thankful for my dad. I love my daddy (that's right, I said Daddy). He's awesome. There's no other way to say it. I have so many great memories with my dad. My parents have been incredible role models for me and my sister, always encouraging us to do what we love rather than saying "have a back up plan". Daddy, thank you so much for everything you've done. Thank you for putting up with me, my hott temper, and my many stupid mistakes for 23 years. I love you!

2nd post

2009-11-27T09:19:00.001-08:00

OK so this is my post for Emily and Luke, cause they're engaged!

For those that don't know her, Emily is a theater professor at Centenary College and her passion is Shakespeare. Well in February, this tour came through Shreveport from the American Shakespeare Center performing "Hamlet" (I know, perfect, right). Luke Eddy played Hamlet... bam, that was it, Emily was in love. Before you all start rolling your eyes, let me clarify this. I've never seen two people honestly embody the word "soulmate" like these guys. Mom and I have both said that we could not have found a better match for our crazy Emily than Luke if we had been able to design him ourselves. Luke is really and truly one of the best guys I have ever met - and believe me, I wouldn't say that about just any guy that Emily dated anymore. He's an amazing actor - up there with Royal Shakespeare Company actors I saw, not even kidding. Luke is so much like Emily and my dad, incredibly smart, loves Shakespeare, and best of all, head over heels in love with my sister. But here's the kicker - I have never seen my sister either so in love OR so truly happy!

I knew Luke would fit into our family when I saw what a great time he had with my parents at dinner the 2nd night we met him. I'd never seen a guy Emily was with fit with my family like this. It truly was like a piece of us was missing, and we didn't realize it until Luke was sitting with us... I know that sounds cheesy but it's true. I knew Luke would be a great brother-in-law when he came into Campbell House and had the same nerdy reaction that I did. He loved the story. He loved all the details, and appreciated them because he's worked on old houses before. It was awesome.

Here's the thing. I knew Luke was right for Emily when we went to see him in Hamlet. Yes he stared at her as they played instruments before the show, and he played to her a lot. But that wasn't the moment. We were waiting outside the theater for Luke to come out, and we saw him first. I saw him kinda looking around, obviously searching for her. He sees her, and relief washes over his face. It was like he was saying "Ahh there she is. That's her. All's right with the world." I don't think I've ever seen someone look at another person like this. That was it for me. I knew instantly that this guy was right for my sister. I didn't need any other explanations to accept him. Neither did my parents when they saw how great they were together. We just got the additional bonus of him fitting so absolutely perfectly.

In October, Luke called to ask my parents permission to marry Emily. Apparently he's been wanting to propose on Thanksgiving since April - what made the final decision for him was meeting our family (see what I mean about this guy?!). So Mom made a huge decision. Remember the cryptic blog I posted earlier? Here's the explanation. That "special thing" we freaked out over was my great-aunt Rita's gorgeous diamond ring. Mom has sworn for YEARS she would not split up that ring. But the Sunday after Luke asked permission, inspiration hit her and she decided to split it up and give Emily 1/2 the diamonds. So she sent it through the mail... it was lost for about 2 weeks! I had my CityLife groups praying over this ring, Mom had security called on her at the post office cause she was yelling at them about it... it was insane, we were so heartsick! LUCKILY they found it in Indianapolis (long story) and it got to Virginia in time for Luke to propose on his parents front porch!

Cheesy and stupid but had to post it - hopefully they won't care that I did. Just wanted to say how much I love them both! CONGRATS AGAIN GUYS!

Thanks for the memories #8

2009-11-27T08:51:00.000-08:00

So today is a very special thanks for the memories.

I'm thankful for my sister... who just got engaged to this incredible guy!

Not sure how to make it bigger but you get the idea. This is Emily and her fiance Luke!!!

OK first off, here's why I'm thankful for my sister. Emily is 4 1/2 years older than me (almost exactly - she was born August 13, I was born February 22, literally a week away from exactly 4 1/2 years), 5 in school. I was definitely not an ideal little sister in a lot of ways... and there were times she would torment me too (like telling her kindergarten sister if she told some 4th grade boys she was in love with them I'd be allowed to play in her room)... but underneath it all Emily was constantly there for me. This is the girl that in 5th grade was often late to class cause she had to walk her sister to kindergarten, drop me off, give me a hug, and tell me she loved me every day. This is the girl that stuck up for me when kids made fun of how skinny I was, or how my brace looked. She constantly encourages me and loves listening to me nerd out about old houses and museums. Granted, she's also the one that nicknamed me "Skankfest" in 6th grade and says stuff like "Katherine needs a hott firefighter that can lift her up and cook for her!" But for 23 years, she has been an amazing role model for me. Emily is most definitely one of the strongest people I know, the girl has been through more than I can and will say and always comes out stronger and better because of it - how many people can say that? There have been times in my life where I've been scared to do things, but I look at Emily and say "if she can do it, so can I". Emily, I'm so thankful that you're my sister because you've been the best one I could have ever asked for! I love you so much!

Why was it so important for me to post about Emily today? See, my super smart, talented, beautiful, incredibly strong, inspiring, and amazing older sister truly found her perfect match when this hott guy came through Shreveport, Louisiana playing Hamlet in a tour for the American Shakespeare Center. Yesterday, these two made it official when Luke proposed. Emily had NO idea that it was coming this soon and literally curled into the fetal position bawling when he got down on one knee :-). I'm SO happy for them!

I'm gonna write a 2nd post talking about Emily AND Luke so this one doesn't get SUPER long. I just wanted to say how thankful I am to have this amazing woman as my older sister and to have such a great guy coming into our family!

So for now I'll end this by sayuing...

CONGRATULATIONS EMILY AND LUKE! WE LOVE YOU!

Thanksgiving's Thanks for the Memories!

2009-11-26T12:35:00.000-08:00

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYBODY! I hope you're all having a fabulous day with your families. For the Heugatter's, it's very low key. Our family Thanksgiving won't happen till Tuesday, when Dad, Emily, and Luke are all in town. But it's OK - I got to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (complete with a steamboat float that had an old man with a white beard piloting it... and Captain Bixby was sitting next to me... coincidence? I think not! Ok maybe... but I'm gonna say no!). I watched the Dog Show with Mom, both of us oohed and aahed over the dogs. We were bummed the Crested and the Boston Terrier didn't make the best in show, but I like the Scottie that won. Mom's making potatoes and gravy. And technically I got some turkey... this morning mom made me scrambled eggs and bacon, and shaped it like a turkey... I laughed and said it counts :-). I think we're gonna work on cleaning the house for when everybody gets back.

Today I'm very thankful for family. I definitely have the best family in the world.
This is us at my sister's 1st wedding.

My family is awesome. We're always there for each other, in good times and bad... and we've been through both most definitely. I can definitively say that I would not be where I am today had I not had these 3 amazing people behind me. Each of them is going to get an individual shout out, starting with my sister tomorrow (cause today's a VERY special day for her and I want to share it and can't wait). Then my parents will each get a day. You get the idea.

I hope that wherever you are today, you stop and say thank you for your family, whether it's one you create for yourself with friends, one you and your spouse create, one you marry into, or, like me, one you are so blessed to be born into.

Oh... and I'm also thankful for hunky firefighters that remember me when I stop by their grand opening and say "You're leaving? And I won't see you for a month!" when you have to leave ;-).

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYBODY! Enjoy your turkey... no matter the form it comes in...

Thanks for the memories, again late

2009-11-26T12:11:00.001-08:00

So I didn't post yesterday, here's the Thanks for the Memories entry...

I'm thankful for... all the opportunities I've had over the years and the people I've met there.

I'm thankful I got to spend a year in Oxford. I'm thankful during that time I got to travel Europe. I'm thankful for all the people I met there. Here's some pics -

Such amazing memories!

I'm thankful to be in the UMSL Museum Studies program, I already thanked my cohort but just the opportunity is amazing. I'm thankful I get to work at Campbell House. I'm thankful I got to go to Philadelphia last year for the AAM annual conference -

I'm thankful for Captain Horace Bixby, who built the house that inspired me to go into historic preservation. I'm thankful for Tom Keay who encouraged me to visit Campbell House, which I fell in love with, interned at for 3 summers, and has eventually led me here.

I'm thankful I got to spend a summer in Natchez and meet the amazing people I did down there. I already thanked my friends but just the opportunity was wonderful!

And I"m thankful for all the professors that inspired me to get here. Professors like my mom who always encouraged me (yeah I say professor cause she taught at Wash U for almost 20 years), Dr. Reynolds who first mentioned historic preservation to me, Jay Rounds, Dr. Lankford who's so excited about my exit project. And of course, last but MOST DEFINITELY AND CERTAINLY NOT LEAST, Francis and Penelope Warner -

God I miss them!

That's "Thanks for the Memories" for Wednesday 11/25! Now I"m going to write the official "Thanksgiving" Thanks for the memories!

Funny

2009-11-24T09:33:00.000-08:00

Recently heard in the Heugatter household -

While watching Prince Caspian, after Lucy says "Do you forget who defeated the White Witch?"
Me: "Oh, Lucy is the voice of the apostle Paul. Wait, did I just say that?"

While watching Big Bang Theory:
Pointing to Howard - Mom: "OK he's DEFINITELY the engineer"
2 seconds later - Howard says "Sheldon I have a MASTERS in engineering from the Massachussets Institute of Technology!"

About Sheldon - Mom: "He's just like my student!"

Sheldon - "Biologically speaking..."
About Sheldon - Mom: "He's a physics guy, right?"
Me: "How do you know this stuff?"
Mom: "I've worked with these guys my whole life, I know how they think"

Man we're nerds!!!

In other news, I was able to get out of the tour next Tuesday, so I can hang out with my fam till class at 3:30! Woohoo!

Finally... hot firefighter preview tomorrow night...

Thanks for the memories #5

2009-11-24T07:44:00.000-08:00

Today is a VERY special day and deserves a VERY special "Thanks for the memories" entry.

You see, 8 years ago today, I came home from working on Ladue's newspaper late at night. I was exhausted, hadn't eaten dinner, and super excited to see my sister. It was great to see Emily and all I wanted to do was scarf down the spaghetti my dad had made. But for some reason, Emily kept saying "I want to see your room! Show me your room!" So I take her upstairs and show it to her, which is when I notice the little cardboard box in front of the fireplace. I go over to see what it is and there's this tiny little black thing. I say "Is that a rat??" That's when this thing turns around and looks at me... and I see this face.
It was love at first sight. This is my Boston Terrier, Captain Bixby (or Mr. Bixby as I call him). It was 8 years ago today (well technically - I got him the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, so it may not be the date but it's the day) that I got him. He's been my best friend for 8 years. Now please don't take this to mean I don't love my human friends cause I do! But this dog has been by my side and loved me completely unconditionally for 8 years. No matter what I do, how bad I screw up, I know that Bixby still loves me. He gets depressed when I leave. When I'm away (like in England, at college, or in Natchez) I call home and ask to talk to Bixby so he can hear my voice. I got a web cam so I could see him and he could see me when we'd be apart for 6 months. When he sees me cry, he tries to kiss the tears away. He jumps all over me when I come home. He sleeps next to me when I'm home. And when I came home from England, he was so happy he would not let me off the floor. There were literally tears streaming down his face!

So Bixby, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BEING THE BEST BABY EVER! I love you so very very much and don't know what I would do without you. And Mom, THANK YOU for getting me the CHristmas present that will absolutely never be topped (the only way I can picture something in my life topping Bixby is if I get engaged for CHristmas or if I have a baby on/around Christmas). Bixby is the best thing I could ask for and I love him so much. SO now enjoy pictures of Mr. B!
Bixby's first Christmas - my dad and my sister with my sweet little baby boy. He was so tiny, we took a red sock, cut it off, and made it a sweater for him!

Bixby last Christmas with the AMAZING Dave Diehl. RIP Dave, we miss you. But isn't Bixby cute! How could anyone not love that face?!

Bixby sitting on our stairs. He was probably waiting for me to get home.

By the way, we weren't even supposed to get this puppy. See, Mom had planned to get me the runt of the litter. But she said that as she was holding the runt, this sweet little boy kept looking up at her with big eyes, as if sayinig "Grandma you're supposed to take me home". So she held him and changed her mind. I know I would've loved the runt... but I truly believe this particular dog was meant to be there as I weant through hard times for the past 8 years and show me the true meaning of unconditonal love. So I am SO VERY VERY THANKFUL that I have Mr. Bixby!

Thanks for the memories #4

2009-11-23T22:55:00.000-08:00

Latest in thanks for the memories.

I'm thankful for... the friends I have that have kept me sane since I graduated

1. Friends from Steinmart
I don't have a pic of them, but all my friends there made that summer a really great one. I don't know how i would've survived the crazies and some people there without Meghan, Micah, Carla, and many others. Thanks for being so awesome ladies, I miss you!
2. My cohort.
Cohort 11. Pretty much the best one ever. Don't know how I could've survived the past 3 semesters without this awesome group of people. Thanks guys!

3. My Natchez Friends
This summer would've sucked had I not had these awesome people around me. Not to mention Darian, Mary, and all my "ladies night at the Vue" friends! Thanks for putting up with the frustration I often had, helping me as I dealt with not having internet, and just being awesome. You guys made the summer so much fun!
4. Jill and Hayley
Sadly I didn't get to spend as much time with these two as I'd hoped. But they were so awesome to get to know while they were in town. Plus they're so inspiring. I look at Hayley, who's off auditioning for broadway shows and tours in NY right now. She just decided "I'm done with Vegas", packed up, no plan, and decided to go see where life took her. Inspires me to face the job search with no fear.
5. Friends at work
Again no pic, but the docents and interns and staff at CHM and Eugene Field House make life so much more fun. I'm really glad I work with such cool people.

So thanks for keeping me sane guys - without all of you, I would definitely have lost my mind MULTIPLE times these past 2 years... and I pretty much have anyway, so thanks for putting up with me...

Tomorrow's a very special thanks for the memories for someone that's my best friend on the planet and has always shown me unconditional love. I'll probably also do a 2nd post tomorrow to tell you guys a funny story. Stay tuned!

Thanks for the memories #3

2009-11-22T18:30:00.000-08:00

Short and sweet

I'm thankful for my church families. Both CityChurch and Lafayette Park. Both have brought people into my life that mean so much to me. I am so lucky to have people that care about me at 2 places. Especially thankful for the support I've been given on the journey over the past year and for the year ahead.

Thanks for the memories guys!

In other news, the Rams lost again. Dangit! BUT I watched live stats last night as the Wash U bears beat Ohio Wesleyan and I listened to the game as they beat Illinois Wesleyan at home and won the Titan Tip off Tournament. WAY TO GO BEARS!!! I'm really hoping that Mom finds soemone to work in the shop for her Dec 4 and 5, cause I REALLY want to go to the games!

Finally Thanksgiving got moved from Monday to Tuesday December 1. So I have a tour at 12:30 at Campbell House that FINGERS CROSSED Andy can find another docent for so I can spendc more time with my fam, then family dinner, then leaving for class at 3:30, then decorating the Christmas tree that night, followed by putting whatever final and finishing touches are needed on my ed program paper for Lankford and my "What is human nature" paper for Jay. Oh boy.

That's it.

Thanks for the memories- #2 a day late

2009-11-22T07:00:00.001-08:00

Here I'm all excited for the Thanks for the Memories series, and I slack off on the second day of it. Sorry! I was at Mom's shop all day and we were swamped. I'll make up for it by doing 2 posts today.

I'm thankful for... my old school friends Meagan and Effie!
Note when I say old school, I mean we went to school together years ago, not that "they're old school" :-)

1. This is my best friend from high school Meagan. Oh the trouble we caused... ("Ben", "The Notebook", Sr. Rosemary - "having a bad day Meagan? hope it gets better!", "POPCORN!", and so many others)... good times, good times. This girl absolutely defined my HS experience, especially my senior year, and I STILL wouldn't change a single day of it (well maybe one or two days)... she is AMAZING and I love her like a sister. It's hard for us to find time to hang out a lot anymore and our relationship has changed a little, but we're still in touch and all it takes is one of us sending a text that says "Boys suck" and the other is there. I LOVE YOU MEAGAN!

2. Effie. Yeah I didn't have a pic of me and Effie together (BTW this needs to be remedied IMMEDIATELY) so I picked a super cute pic of her in Europe eating quiche. Effie and I grew up together, literally - we went to elementary school at Robinson together till the 3rd grade, then did a couple shows together (Effie do you remember you, me, and Ariel Simon singing "I'm too sexy for my fishing pole" during Steamboatin?). We lost touch for a while but got back in touch when I reconnected with her sister Emma who went to SEA for a few years/during the rage of AIM (it was pretty new at the time) in HS. Lost touch again until the summer after I graduated when our mom's ran into each other and we realized we were both in STL. Grabbed coffee together... fast forward a year and we're close friends again. Effie's such a great friend cause she knows where I and my family have been and understands where I'm at right now, cause she's there too in a lot of ways. I always look forward to coffee or happy hour or open mic night with Effie!! LOVE YOU GIRL!

Just wanted to say thanks for all the memories you two have given me over the years! I love both of you, and we need to hang out more!!!!

Check the blog later today to see who ELSE I'm thankful for - part 3 in the series!

BTW, if there are any girls in ST. Louis that are looking for something to do the night before Thanksgiving, call me - there's a preview night for the new restaurant in Lafayette Square across from Mom's shop where Soda Fountain Square used to be. It's gonna be run by local fire fighters and they're families... but some of them are single and probably hott... I know at least one is cause he came in last night... come on, we can scope out local hott fire fighters, how fun is that!

Thanks for the memories - #1

2009-11-20T16:46:00.000-08:00

First "Thanks for the memories" entry! This is a series where I say thank you to all the people I'm thankful are/have been in my life, it'll go up to the Monday after Thanksgiving (when we do our family Thanksgiving) and hopefully once a week after that.

First up - LPUMC Youth group
I'm starting with them because A. I'm seeing them in a week, B. I went and saw New Moon with one of them last night :-).

This isn't everybody but it's a good recent picture (yes Alex IS in a pink sweater with a cow on it). 7 years ago my family went church shopping - my requirement was that they have a good youth group. I go visit Lafayette Park UMC with them and meet Sarah (2nd from left, next to Brian in the right) and Cassie (not pictured). 15 minutes after I meet them, they invite me to go whitewater rafting with the youth group. Kids I knew 15 years hadn't done that at my old church.

Since then we've become great friends. My friends in college would hang out with HS friends on break, I hung out with my youth group. I don't know what I would've done on those breaks in St. Louis without these guys! Everyone's all spread out now - Alyssa's in New Jersey, Sarah's in Iowa, Brian just moved back to St. Louis after getting out of the air force, Mackenzie's at Mizzou - but we still keep in touch and I consider them some of my closest friends. Everytime we're all back in town, we make sure we hang out and it's always a blast. We have so much fun and I'm so blessed to have them in my life.

There is one person that I've kinda lost touch with - Cassie. Last I heard she was living somewhere in St. Louis with this really weird girl who's super skinny and a big nerd and wants to work in museums and has a blog...
I'M JUST KIDDING!! Cassie and I live together and she's an AWESOME roommate!!!!!!!!!! She's always there when I need her, whether it's for a good laugh, to remind me not to fall into old traps, calm me down when I'm freaking about stuff, or someone to swoon with me over Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner ;-). I LOVE YOU ROOMIE, thanks for putting up with me, you are amazing!

So I just wanted to say thank you to everybody in my old church youth group who accepted a weird, skinny kid who came to visit with her parents and stuck by her for years. You guys are amazing. I love you. Can't wait to see you guys next week!! Thanks for the memories!!

Tune in tomorrow to see who else I'm thankful for!

BTW - seeing these pics again, I realize I should not wear that much dark eyeshadow... def does not work for me...

Seriously?

2009-11-20T11:24:00.000-08:00

OK so this is gonna be a 3-blog post day. I know that's crazy. But the story I have so perfectly illustrates why I called this blog "The madness of Ms. Katherine" I have to tell it as well as starting the series. My life is crazy.

So I work at Campbell House Museum. Today 2 women come in and say "We have 15 minutes, can you give us a tour in that amount of time". Keep in mind that Campbell House is 3 floors, close to 10,000 square feet, and my tours normally last between 45minutes and an hour. This was not gonna be easy. So rather than introducing myself and taking my time like I normally do, I say "I won't be able to give much info on the story but I"ll try" and just launch into it, moving as quick as I can. We get to the servants exhibit, one woman needs to go to the bathroom so I show her where it is, and the other one and I talk a little about Philadelphia, which is where she's from. I loved Philly. If a job at a historic house museum opened in Philly, I would jump at it. Other woman comes back, we move on with our quick tour.

At the end, the woman from Philly starts talking to our director Andy and says "I'm the director of a historic mansion in Philadelphia". Yep. That's right. I gave a tour to a woman who runs a historic house in the city I'd love to be in. Perfect networking opportunity. I HAD NO CLUE TILL THE END! And I don't even have time to introduce myself and say I'm a museum studies student or give the pretty good (at least in my opinion and what I've heard from others) tour to her! Plus by the time she says this, she's talking to Andy about important stuff so I can't say "Hey I'm a museum studies student!" without sounding immature and dumb.

The good thing is I just looked the place up, and it's not a museum. It's a mansion owned by a college that you can rent out for events. So it's not the dream job I thougth it was when I first heard who she was. And Mom said it's perfectly OK for me to get her info from Andy (she gave him her card) and send her my resume saying 'I was your tour guide".

Yeah - PERFECT opportunity to get an in on jobs and they only have 15 minutes for the tour. Are you kidding me? See how crazy my life is????

Thanks for the memories starting tonight

2009-11-20T09:05:00.000-08:00

OK so recently I've gotten into series' on blogs - i.e. Pioneer Woman's "Black Heels to Tractor Wheels" where you have a certain subject you write on for a while. With Thanksgiving less than a week away, I have decided to do my own series of counting my blessings. BUT instead of just saying "I'm thankful for my job, I'm thankful for my apartment" etc. I'm going to be thanking different PEOPLE or groups that mean and have meant a lot to me, saying "I'm thankful for you". I'm calling it "Thanks for the memories". Each day leading up to the Monday after Thanksgiving (That's when we're doing FAMILY Thanksgiving so it works) I'll be saying thank you to different people. I plan to try and keep this up 1x a week after that, so if you feel like you got short changed on your 'Thank you" or I don't recognize you chances are your time is coming. I'm starting it tonight, check back regularly to see who I'm thanking and what they've done for me! Know how much I love you all!!

In other news, I saw New Moon last night with Cassie - AH-MAZING! SO good! Better than Twilight! Like WAY better! Visual effects were up there with Harry Potter, Kristen STewart (who I thought was good as Bella in Twilight but my sister hated) was EVEN BETTER here, Taylor Lautner was GORGEOUS, just perfect. CAN'T WAIT FOR ECLIPSE!

That's it. Check back in tonight!

Short updates

2009-11-19T08:31:00.001-08:00

This one I promise will be short and sweet.

I'm addicted to Pioneer Woman. Anybody that can have me reading a romance novel for 5 hours till 3 AM and it's not even fiction, it's a true story of her and her husband, is AH-MAZING! Much better than the Soupman addiction - she's free and funny!

I had my lunch out yesterday. Soupman was delicious.

Everything got to where it's supposed to go yesterday. WOOHOO! Big relief.

Cassie and I are going to see New Moon tonight at midnight! That's right. I'm a total Twilighter. I have no problem admitting it. I'm SUPER excited - New Moon was my least favorite book, but the movie already looks better than Twilight, and I loved Twilight the movie.

Oh. And BEST QUOTE EVER from last night - "I gotta go. They'll think I'm pooping".

Thanks for that Glee. I needed that moment of almost falling off the couch.

That's my crazy life for today!

I once was lost but now I"m found

2009-11-17T11:33:00.000-08:00

Ok this is going to be a very obscure blog post. It has to be. Because if I explain exactly what I'm talking about, I run the risk of ruining a very very important surprise and get in BIG trouble - and by big I'm talking huge. So I'm going to be cryptic. If you really want to know what's going on, talk to me in person, send a facebook INBOX message (WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT WRITE ABOUT THIS ON MY FACEBOOK WALL, THAT'S AN EVEN EASIER WAY TO RUIN THIS SURPRISE!), etc. But I've told some people about what's going on in the hopes that prayer would work, which it did! So I wanted to update everyone as much as I can.

Recently my parents made a decision that was very big for some people close to us that we love a lot. That decision involved taking a step that would in some ways put something important to us out of our control. They took that step... and for about two weeks it seemed that that something important to us was lost forever. We were so heartsick. I started telling people about this so I could get it off my chest/have people commiserate and freak out with me/hoping that if they prayed for this important thing would come back to us. I specifically told some people at the CityLifes I go to (for those that attend Mike and Beth or Brad and Hannah's CityLife and read this, that's a BIG hint on what I'm talking about). However, the future seemed bleak as far as this. We made a plan B but knew in our hearts it wasn't as good as plan A, we were really upset about the seeming failure of plan A.

Well I'm here to tell you prayer, fingers crossed, and good thoughts worked!! The thing that we thought we'd never see again has been found, THANK GOD! I can't say where or how on here cause doing that could potentially reveal what I"m talking about. But I will say that it has been found, there should be enough time for everything to go as planned, Plan B is still in effect so there are multiple options, and I can't wait for this surprise to happen. The surprise will help give someone everything they deserve in the best way possible. Just wanted to say THANK YOU for all who prayed for me, my family, and that important thing is this crazy crazy situation! I'll explain this much better after Thanksgiving. If you want more info talk to me in person, in an e-mail, or on facebook inbox cause that's all I can do. Keep thinking good thoughts about my family.

Finally, the St. Louis Rams lost but we were THIS CLOSE to taking down the unbeaten Saints on Sunday! AWESOME! And THE WASH U BEARS WON!!!! Here's hoping for a 3-peat! I thought about posting some thoughts on community cause I talked about it 3 separate times last week but this was more important, even though I can't really explain.

See how crazy my life is?

Tom Cruise has my dad's stopper

2009-11-14T16:55:00.000-08:00

The title is not nearly as crazy as it sounds. So as you all know, my mom owns a shop (Looking Glass Designs... anyone in St. Louis should come visit, 1410 S. 18th St!). Anyway, my dad makes super cool wine stoppers out of antique door knobs. A guy came into Mom's shop several weeks ago and said he had done a movie with Tom Cruise. Yes, THAT Tom Cruise - Risky Business, jumping on Oprah's couch Tom Cruise, not Tom Cruise the inventor of hoverround. Apparently Tom Cruise collects wine stoppers. So this guy bought a super cool one and said he was gonna give it to Tom Cruise. So TOM CRUISE NOW HAS ONE OF MY DAD'S HOMEMADE WINE STOPPERS!

Now i know some of you may not be huge Tom Cruise fans. Generally I agree with you. But I find out Tom Cruise owns something my dad made, I get freakin excited... :-).

In other news, Shelley from Campbell House is now addicted to Soupman, just like I am.

Oh and big news... TOMORROW'S THE FIRST WASH U BASKETBALL GAME! As you'll all find out over the next year, I'm a huge Wash U bball fan. My mom recruited a lot of the team, several helped me move into my apartment, and I've gotten to know all the guys. They're all awesome. They've won the D-3 championship 2 years in a row (we were at the final four for the first one but had to miss last year's so we could meet Luke), and they only lost 1 senior last year, have a lot of seniors this year, and a big freshman class so there's a real good shot they'll at least go to the final 4 if not take it for the 3rd consecutive year! I'm going to the game, SO excited! GO BEARS!

Job update

2009-11-12T09:17:00.000-08:00

K so you'll probably be reading a lot of these over the next year. But then that's kinda why I started the blog. So I could talk about everything that was going on in my life with jobs and work and school and life.

I applied for 3 jobs recently. One was a curatorial position in Suttonborough just outside of London, England. I knew it was a MAJOR long shot (it's a curatorial job, I don't have much experience with it. Plus it's in England, I'm a US citizen, they'd have to REALLY want me/be desperate in their pool of applicants to give me an interview) but I decided that I'd never know if I didn't try so I stuck my hat in the ring. One was at the African-American Museum of Iowa outside of Cedar Rapids. One was at the Montgomery County Historical Society in Rockville, MD. I really wanted that Maryland job. Heard from all 3. No such luck.

The England job like I said I figured as much, so wasn't surprised. The African-American museum said they'd already started the selection process (even though the deadline was the day I applied - I guess they already had a good enough pool to start doing interviews) BUT they'd put my resume on file. The Maryland job said I had an impressive resume but not "the combination of academic focus AND professional experience we were looking for" in a pool of 75 applicants. Translation - we don't want someone straight out of grad school.

Am I bummed? Yeah. Am I devastated? No, not at all. This is just the first 3 applications. I've already got others that I'm going to be applying for over Christmas break, when I can think straight. Plus sending my resume to places in St. Louis. Plus sending it to all the contacts I made at AAM. Plus talking to my cousin Lauren, who works with historic preservation in Galveston and might be able to help me on a job there (not in a museum but with historic houses in a cool area, should it happen I'd take it!) Plus whatever other postings come up next semester. There's gonna be many more applications, and to be honest probably many more rejections. The job market sucks right now, especially in museums, and I know that. But I also know that somewhere out there is my first job. All I can do is believe I'm gonna find something, trust that God's got a plan for me and do my best on applications until the plan actually happens.

Plus there are some silver linings. 1 - as cool as it would be to live in London (let's face it, it'd be totally AWESOME!), the job was only part time, so I'd have to take another job. Plus I'd be super far from my family, friends, and Bixby (for those that don't know, he's my Boston Terrier, and I LOVE him to death!). 2 - the Iowa job said they'd put my resume on file, always a good thing! 3 - the Maryland job flat out said I had an impressive resume. So not only did I get them past my cover letter and interested in my resume, they said they were IMPRESSED by it. So I'm getting past that first hurdle of deleting the cover letter all together without a glance at the resume, AND they look closely at the resume enough to be impressed. I've just gotta get past that hurdle to the interview!

In other news, we did our program presentation for Lankford's class. I got nervous right before we started cause Lankford reminded us that the program and evaluation of the exhibit we're putting together counts for 1/3 of not just the people that worked on those teams grades, but the WHOLE CLASS - aka if we screwed up, we screwed everyone over. But we did REALLY well, I felt great about it! He had a couple tough ?s which we were able to field, and with a few minor errors it went off perfectly! So that's great!

K this is long enough. Keep praying for me/your fingers crossed/good thoughts coming my way on the jobs! It's out there - I just hope I find it sooner (like May) rather than later (like May 2012).

Blog on Katherine in Museums

2009-11-11T11:08:00.000-08:00

Apology off the bat - I have no idea how to put actual links in my posts, so if you want to look at the links, copy and paste the URLs!

So I just put a new post on my "Katherine in Museums" professional blog - read it here - http://www.katherineinmuseums.blogspot.com/.

Remember it's my professional blog, so any funny comments put HERE not there! Please and thank you!!

The post over there talked about 2 projects I started just before I left for Natchez this past summer. I won't go TOO into detail, since it's posted over there, but basically I started a facebook fan page and a weekly blog. If you're not already, PLEASE fan Campbell House Museum on facebook! We're trying to get our name out there and get more fans, so I'd really appreciate it!

Here are the links:
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Saint-Louis-MO/Campbell-House-Museum/57253224411?ref=ts

Blog - campbellhousemuseum.wordpress.com

For those that don't know, Campbell House Museum is the historic house museum that I work at. I've been here 5 years - 3 summers, 2 year long internship. I could go on for hours but here's the Cliffsnotes version - the house was built in 1851. Robert Campbell and his wife Virginia moved in in 1854. Their family was here for the next 80 years. Robert Campbell was a big businessman involved in every business you can think of in the 19th century (EXCEPT SOUP, Robert is NOT the founder of Campbell's soup!) When his last son died in 1938, with none of the 3 boys really working, his 1/3 of the estate was $2 MILLION. It's like $69 million today. We've been open as a museum since 1943. The house has been restored back to it's 1880s appearance, we know that for a fact because we have photographs from about 1885 of the interior.

So basically, Campbell House is super cool. You should all come check it out, especially if you're a fan of old houses. $6 for adults, kids 12 and under are free, open Wednesday-Saturday 10-4, Sunday noon-4. And if you can't make it, at least fan the facebook page and read the blog.

One last thing. Happy Veterans Day - thank god for all the service men and women that have defended us. And Happy belated anniversary Sesame Street!

The first step is admitting you have a problem

2009-11-10T11:28:00.000-08:00

Ok folks. I have to admit something. I had a personal intervention and have come to a realization. It wasn't pretty. It wasn't easy. But I realized that I have a problem

I am addicted...

To Soupman.

Now some of you may laugh (btw that is kinda the point... though you didn't hear it from me...). But this is serious. This is up there with my Chipotle addiction senior year. Or my Pizza Hut addiction in college, where I would say my order and they knew who it was. Or my Morton's addiction in Oxford, where i walked there ALL the time. It's insane!

What is Soupman? Soupman is based off of the Soup Nazi on Seinfeld, yes the "NO soup for you!" guy. They even have him as their logo. But they obviously can't call the place "Soup Nazi's" so instead it's called Soupman. It's an AMAZING little place on 11th between Washington and Lucas. They have the most DELICIOUS soups I think I have ever tasted. And you can get a cup of soup, 1/2 a sandwich (I always get chicken salad sandwich) which is really the size of a whole sandwich cause it's so big, fruit, a piece of bread, a piece of chocolate, and a drink for under $10! If you get a bowl of soup it goes up obviously, but still... that's awesome. They're only open for lunch but man it is SO worth it. Nate first told me about it, and I tried the place... it is delicious!

Here's the problem. I go there all the time. I smell soup at lunch and I start wanting Soupman. I drive by there, and I want Soupman. I go there so often that the workers KNOW WHO I AM! They may not know me by name but we're at a point where we can make casual conversation... think about it, how often do I have to go into a lunch counter place for the people to know my face and say "Hey good to see you again!" Plus my bank account is beginning to show the effects of my addiction...

So I am going to try to limit my soup adventures. And eating out. Cause I really can't afford it, I have to accept the fact that I am a poor grad student and can not eat out all the time. I'm settinig a limit of eating out for lunch just once a week. Dinner same thing. We'll see if this lasts...

PS. If anyone who reads this blog has actually dealt with a real addiction, know that this is not meant to be offensive, it's just a joke. Although I do need to stop eating out so much and save money

And so it begins

2009-11-09T08:45:00.000-08:00

Alright folks. The job search is officially starting. Well, technically it started last week when I filled out an app for a job outside of London but since that's such a longshot I don't really consider that the start.

Mom helped me with my resume, hopefully Jay will do the same. I'm working on my cover letter. Two job apps are due tomorrow.

Please be praying for me/keep your fingers crossed/send out good vibes (whatever you want, I'll take any good thoughts coming my way) for the next 6 months. The job market sucks for everyone right now, but especially anyone in industries that many see as "non-necessary", or "extra", like museums. Museums aren't hiring much right now, and everyone needs a job. So just keep me in your thoughts as I look for a job to start after graduation...

For those wondering, the first jobs are at the Montgomery County Historical Society in Rockville, MD, and the African-American Museum of Iowa in Cedar Rapids, IA. Both museum education. I REALLY want that maryland job, but who knows.

Also, for those worried, I AM applying to positions in St. Louis. In a perfect world, I would be able to stay here. But like I said above, the job market is slim right now, especially for museums. Also, as you will see throughout the year, I am stressed. This week, for example, I have 2 job applications due tomorrow, a 125-175 word label to write about my 3-D object of a finger puppet for class, a presentation of our semester-long program planning on Wednesday, and a 10 minute oral report on Thursday. I also have to finish the Campbell children write up for the portrait gallery, work on the servant write up, edit pictures from the Griot, put up posters for the holiday historic house tour, figure out my directed readings class next semester, and fill out an M-2 form. There's even more I could write about but I wont' go into it. Needless to say, I'm stressed. My plan is to work on applying for any jobs, like those in St. Louis, that DON'T have an application deadline or aren't even POSTED over Christmas break, when I have a few minutes to actually think. These two have a deadline of tomorrow. I'm starting there.

Thanks for listening as the craziness really starts!

Lumiere place show

2009-11-08T11:56:00.001-08:00

Alright guys here's a better taste of what this blog is gonna be cause this post has nothing to do with church or theology. It is an announcement though.

Tonight at 7, my parents and I are going to see the "Elvis tribute show" at Lumiere Place. Tickets are $15 and I HIGHLY encourage you all to come cause it's gonna be great - we saw the Legends show there, and it was wonderful, so I know this one is gonna be too. Seriously, everybody come!!

Some of you may be wondering why I'm encouraging you to come see an Elvis show, or why I know about it at all. I'm good friends with two of the dancers in the show, Jill and Haley! They came into my mom's shop, Looking Glass Designs, several weeks ago. They love history and old houses and asked if they could see my parents old house. So I met them when they were touring the house, and we've gotten to be good friends. These girls are AWESOME! Sad thing is it's the last show. They actually leave town tomorrow. Haley's going to New York to audition for Broadway and a European tour. Jill's headed back to Vegas, which is where her husband is in the Air Force. They're deciding whether to do a 6 week tour across the country with the Elvis show or something else. But regardless of what they do, they won't be in St. Louis anymore. I'm really gonna miss them.

People like Haley, who before she came here said "I"m done with Vegas, I'm packing up all my stuff and will just see where life takes me, either to St. Louis, NY, Europe, or a US and Canada tour", and Katie Mohr, who moved to Guatemala for 7 months when she was adopting her son (I was on a total blog kick this week what can I say), really inspire me. I look at these women, or my sister, or my mom, who have just gone for stuff without knowing exactly what was gonna happen, and say "If they can do it, so can I!". And that's exactly what I'm gonna need over the next year, as I apply for jobs across the country (and across the world - I applied for one in England).

K that's long enough, you've had enough madness for today. Hope to see some of you at the Elvis show at Lumiere place at 7 tonight!

Update on hmmm...

2009-11-07T12:57:00.001-08:00

OK so I have made a decision. Not an easy one to come to, although some of you may say "How was it not easy, she decided it in like 2 hours!" But after really thinking about who I am and what I believe and talking to my parents, I have decided what to do.

I am not going to become a member of CityChurch. Please understand this does NOT mean I'm not going to be attending! You'd better believe you'll still see my face on Sunday mornings as well as in CityLife. I'm still going to be a greeter and help with communion and everything I do now. However, officially I will only be an attendee, not a member. I just can't justify in my head and my heart leaving Lafayette Park, with two wonderful female pastors and so many amazing gay couples, to officially join a church that's in a denomination/presbytery which does not support those. So I am not going to be a member. Just an attendee.

K that's the madness of Katherine for today. Now onto working on programs and studying!

Hmmm...

2009-11-07T10:55:00.001-08:00

OK so I'm gonna write about something that I'm wrestling with right now. Should this offend anyone, go against anyone's beliefs, or hurt anyone's feelings I apoligize. This is not my intention whatsoever. I'm writing out a decision that i am struggling with. Also, should anyone actually read this blog and feel the need to comment, just remember to be respectful cause the things I"m struggling with are hot-button issues.

As you saw in the previous post I was super excited about becoming a member of CityChurch. Now I am stuggling with the decision. For anyone that reads this and goes there, I ABSOLUTELY PROMISE YOU this is NOTHING against you guys, I love you all, and regardless of whether I'm a member or not I fully plan to keep attending every Sunday and going to CityLife!! But I need to think this through, and sometimes writing it out helps.

Here's the deal. There are two things that CityChurch disagrees with me on - homosexuality and ordination of women. Now I'm OK with the homosexuality disagreement. I personally believe that being gay is not a sin, they do. HOWEVER, I am OK with that because of how they handle it. One of CityChurch's core values is story, the idea that you can't judge someone because you odn't know their story, you don't know what they've been through. They also fully believe in loving everyone. As such, they really preach a gospel of openness, of "Believe and you will be saved", so that being gay is not a condemnation as it is with some churches. Thus you won't find CityChurch people picketing The Laramie Project with Fred Phelps. I'm OK with that. Although I disagree with the idea that it's a sin, I'd much rather be involved with a place that says "love all, get to know people's story, turn people to Christ" rather than "You are automatically going to Hell!"

So even though I disagree with it, I'm basically over that hurdle. But the ordination of women one is a hurdle that I don't know if I can jump. I've grown up with women pastors and it's been ingrained in me, both from my dad but especially from my mom, that we should not be disqualified from the pulpit purely because of our gender. Mom's always said she could never go to a Missouri Synod lutheran church because they don't ordain women. The presbytery that CityChurch is part of reserved the position of "Teaching Elder", which is a pastor, for men only. Now women can still hold high positions in the church - we can be deacons. But we cannot be pastors, AND we cannot be elders, which are the lay people that make up the full-on leadership of the church. I know there are bibilical reasons both for the ordination of women and homosexuality, but this is just what I personally feel.

Some of you may say "What's the big deal? You agree with so much of what they preach, you love everybody there, why are you struggling?". See, you can't be a member of two churches. Thus, to be a member of CityCHurch, I have to transfer my membership from Lafayette Park United Methodist Church. At LPUMC, gay men and women are fully accepted as children of God. Also, not only are women ordained, but the 2 pastors at LPUMC are women. I left Lafayette Park because there weren't young people I could relate to. I really have found a family with CityChurch, one that had been lacking with Lafayette Park. But can I really and completely leave a church that stands for everything I believe in to join one I love but stands for two things I am heartily against??

I really don't know. I think prayer and thought is definitely needed here. As I said, should any CityChurch people read this, PLEASE know that regardless of my decision I'm not leaving! I'm still gonna be a regular attendee! This is just something I need to work out with God and me.

Sad thing is I don't even know if I have time to really wrestle with this, cause right now I have to get my stuff together to meet with up Danny and Gretchen to talk about the programs we're presenting Wednesday. Oh and I also have to find an article to include with the 3 Jay assigned us and be ready to do an oral report on it for Thursday. Why do issues like this come up right when I'm already super busy???

God give me strength and enlightenment as I make this decision...

2nd blog

2009-11-06T09:42:00.000-08:00

Ok guys here is the professional blog I just started -

http://www.katherineinmuseums.blogspot.com/

I am linking that to this site, but I will NOT be linking this site to that one (so you won't find a link to "The madness of Ms. Katherine" on the "Katherine in Museums" blog). I'm trying to keep them separate, so that this blog is all my funny, crazy, stressed out, good times stories, whereas that one is to update hopefully potential employers on my work projects. I may be talking about work projects on here cause it's such a big part of my life, but I am going to try and limit small updates to the professional blog.

Enjoy!
- Katherine

Hello blogosphere!

2009-11-06T09:03:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody!
So recently I've been reading some friends blogs. I always get a kick out of them - typically end up at least smiling, nodding my head in agreement, rolling around laughing, or wiping away tears (more often the first 3 than the latter). I haven't figured out how to exactly link the blogs on here, so I'll just put ones I'm following on the side and you can read them as you want. As I've done this, I've thought, "Hey I can do that!" So I am. This blog is going to just be my ramblings on wherever the next year and maybe beyond takes me. Period.

Now you have the short version of the story. Here's the longer one. I was blog hopping last night, going back to the beginning of blogs I had just started reading, and noticed how interesting it is to see where people were a year ago. That's when I remembered the post I wrote exactly 1 year ago tomorrow. Here's a quote from it -

"I've decided to take some control in my life and change something that I just realized hasn't been going right. I am going back to church. No I do not necessarily mean LPUMC although I plan to still go there on Sunday mornings cause I love it. I'm going to listen to what my mom has been saying since I moved home and follow the example of my older sister last week and find my own church on probably Saturday nights, preferably one with a contemporary service and lots of students. What brought this on? I won't get into it too much but basically I was talking to one of my sisters and I had a revelation. I'm trying too hard to hold onto ADPi. The fact is my chapter doesn't need me the way they used to, they have their new girls and have moved on, but I haven't yet found a group that can fill the void that not being part of the chapter has left in my life. Working at Steinmart helped some, cause I had my friends there, but now that I've quit and don't see them anymore I look too much to the past through facebook and it needs to stop. Basically I'm lonely, and I think finding a group of friends at church, like what I found through Sunday roast after St. Michaels and Risky Living at St. Aldates in England, would help fill in the gap left by my college friends (although nothing can replace my ADPi sisters obviously). And who knows, there might just be someone waiting for me at that church too, which though not my focus would be a nice side benefit... hey it worked for my parents! The good thing about the church stuff is that last night I found out I'm not the only one of my recent graduate friends feeling this way, which made me feel SO much bettter!"

I smiled when I read that last night, because exactly one year after I decided to try to find my own church, I'm going to be doing a membership class to join CityChurch. That got me thinking about where I was this time last year vs. this year. I was lonely. I didn't have a church. I felt lost at work because I didn't have projects to work on. I had just found out about a love for museum education. I had no idea what I would be doing that summer, certainly never thought about Natchez, Mississippi. And I had absolutely no clue what I was gonna do for an exit project. Look at me now. I found a church I love and am getting involved with. I'm more social than I was last year. I spent the summer in Natchez, MS. I found a church in Natchez, MS and a group of friends that I miss dearly. I have 2 big projects that I'm doing for the museum. I'm applying for jobs. And I have a fabulous exit project. What a difference a year can make! As I realized that, I thought "I wonder where I will be next year this time?" With any luck, that answer will be in a job I love at a museum, settled in an awesome house or apartment. But who knows - I'll just have to wait and see what God has in store.

So this blog is just going to update anyone interested on wherever the next year might lead. I may give some details on the exit projects and work things I'm doing, but I think I'm going to create a 2nd blog primarily for that - that one will be a professional blog, which I still encourage you all to read. But to steal a phrase from my college friend "Sister Good", this blog is just my ordinary adventures :-). And no, this will not be a constant "Oh my life is so awesome! Yeah me!" blog. That's why I named it "The madness of Ms. Katherine". Number 1, I wanted a clever title, and thought a play on "The Madness of King George" would be funny. 2, I am crazy busy. I am stressed. A lot of times I feel like I am losing my mind. And I am anything but perfect. So this blog is just about my life - messy and crazy as it is.

I'm going to do my best to not let this turn into "Let's let Katherine vent about how stressed she is and how much her life sucks" land, to also include all those funny and "Yeah me!" stories. You'll get to hear about the job search. About the stress. About the exit project. About my friends and family (just what I do with them, no gossip of course). And about my journey as I grow as a person and in my relationship with God. For any non-Christian friends I'll try not to make this a constant "God is AWESOME!" blog but there are gonna be references so just bear with me.

Anyway I hope you all, or at least some people, enjoy reading this. Here goes my crazy life! Welcome!

- Ms. Katherine